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Matthew C. McKeown 



Some Memories of a 
. .. fllMner’s Xtfe .. . 

or five pear© on tbe (Bolt* fielOs of IRew Zealand. 


:iBeing a Description from 
memory b£ tbe author, 
recounting bis trials anD 
« barDsbips in that far* 
awa^ country. « « « • • 
Go wbicb are aDDeD a « 
number of pertinent facts 
anD comments on some 
« of tbe Geological falla= 
cies of to^Da^. « « « « « 


Cop^rigbteD, 1S93, b£ 

fIDattbew C. flfcclkeown, 

BarnesviUe, ©bio, 













4-7H 

53S 


Ho nt£ beloved wife, 

fl>argaret H. ITDclkeown, 

and daughters, 

j£mma THU. Ibobbs anbllRaomi H. Elliott, 

tbis little volumn 
is most tenderly dedicated 
b£ tbe author. 


ONE copy 


RECEIVED* 



Q& / 4 f/kyS, 


INTRODUCTORY. 


The author of this little volume, written from memory and 
observation, was born in County Derry, Ireland, near the village 
of Innishrush, in the year 1832, of sturdy Irish stock. From 
boyhood, having read a number of books of travel, he formed a 
strong desire for travel and venture, and when his parents left 
the Emerald Isle for the free land of America, he came with 
them and the rest of the family, consisting of five brothers and 
two sisters, to Wheeling, W. Va., in the spring of 1855. Here 
he became restless, and the longing to travel and see some of the 
great world lead him, in 1858, together with a companion, to 
return to Ireland, where after remaining about one month they 
took passage on a vessel, sailing from England, and after a long 
voyage covering three months, they landed at Melbourne, Austra¬ 
lia. Here five years were spent off and on the gold-fields of that 
far-away country, with varying success, when he continued his 
travels to New Zealand, hoping to further better his condition in 
the matter of “gold-getting.” In this strange and far-off land 
he spent five years more upon the gold-fields. 

At this time, nor for many years afterwards, did it ever 
enter his mind “to write a book” on his travels; but being of a 
studious and industrious nature, the Islands of New Zealand, 
besides rewarding his labors with some gold, her wild, rugged 
mountains, rivers, lakes and rocks, coupled with the knowledge 
of geology gleaned from books, furnished him the practical 
knowledge of the “Story of the Rocks,” etc., and gave him the 
basis of a good portion of this little volume, and which, the 


4 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

reader will observe, is at great variance with the theories ad¬ 
vanced by geologists. 

With no effort at coloring or embellishing, gilding or enam¬ 
eling its pages, but a foremost desire to state facts as they exist 
and are proven, the author hopes that the reader may find some 
interest in perusing this volume, which encompasses ten years 
of the prime of life in point of labor and adventure, though 
written without notes, from memory some twenty-five years or 
more afterwards. Very respectfully, 

M. C. McKEOWN. 

Barnesville, Ohio, August, 1893. 


Some Memories of a fllMner's Xife 

♦ . . or . . . 

five H>ears on tbe (Bolt) fields of flew Zealand 


CHAPTER I. 

BOUND FOR MELBOURNE. 

I left Wheeling June 10th, 1858, accompanied by Mr. John 
Blair, and sailed from New York on the 17th on the steamer 
“Kangaroo” for Liverpool, England, arriving at that port in 
14 days. We were only a few hours out when a dense fog set in 
and remained with us a week. At this time the second Atlantic 
cable was being laid, and the captain, in order to have the party 
report when he landed in England, stood farther to the north 
than the general course of steamers. This not only brought us 
into extremely cold weather, but also into the vicinity of ice¬ 
bergs and they were entirely hidden by the fog; but as “luck 
would have it” (for man in general owes more to good luck than 
to good judgment), the fog cleared away long enough to expose 
the great danger we were about to encounter. The captain up 
to this time had not made his appearance on deck) some said 
he was sick, while others, with broader views or suspiciously in¬ 
clined, said he was drunk, but let that be as it may, when 
brought on deck by the first mate his appearance had a very 
soothing effect upon the passengers. 

The captain after viewing the situation ordered the steam¬ 
er’s course changed at once. This news was most satisfactory to 
all on board, especially to the cwk, for at this time the passen- 



6 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

gers had full possession of the galley, rendering it almost im¬ 
possible for the cook to get either in or out. Although most 
everyone was trying to get his nose in the galle 3 r , it couldn't be 
called a case of nibbing, as they were only trying to get their 
noses warm. The steamer now encounters large fields of broken 
ice. Once clear of this we had no more danger apparently until 
we landed in Liverpool. Mr. Blair and I remained here a few 
days, then went to Ireland, where we remained about a month 
and then returned to England. 

We left Liverpool, England, on the 8th of August, 1858, 
and after a passage covering three months landed in Melbourne. 
Our passage was one of the ordinary class. We had only two 
little excitements on board ship during the long voyage: one was 
caused by an American ship trying to cross our bows, the other 
was getting into the vicinity of the Southern Islands. Early 
one morning, just ahead of us, we could barely see the top of the 
ship's mast in the horizon. The wind was favorable and a stiff 
breeze was blowing. Our ship being a large one, consequently 
carried a large amount of canvas, and in an hour or so we were 
abreast of the strange ship and discovered her to be the “Black 
Hawk," from Liverpool to California. The wind continued 
good, and in a few hours we were as far ahead of the “Black 
Hawk" as she was of us in the morning. At noon the wind 
began to fail. This gave the “Black Hawk" the advantage, en¬ 
abling her to carry all her canvas, a thing she couldn’t do in a 
stiff breeze on account of being a small vessel. With a few 
hours of this favorable wind, the American ship was full abreast 
of us again, but she appeared not satisfied at that, and began 
making the attempt to cross our bows. Now the excitement 
began. The first mate ordered all passengers abaft in order to 
lighten the bow of the ship and at the same time sending an old 
sailor to the wheel. It was now hot between the two vessels for 
an hour. The “Black Hawk" made three attempts to cross our 
bows, but failed. The failure was largely due to the “Black 
Hawk" keeping so close to our vessel, for she was carrying all 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 


7 


her canvas at the time. This, with the position of the wind, 
naturally threw the American vessel in the shade. If she had 
kept further off and sailed a little ahead she could easily have 
accomplished her purpose. But still such an act on the part of 
the “Black Hawk” was not only foolish, but dangerous in the 
extreme, for had she failed in the attempt our captain would 
have undoubtedly run her down, for he was hot enough at the 
time to have done it. The “Black Hawk” now seeing that she 
was beaten, and apparently with much reluctance, dropped back 
to our stern and crossed, at the same time giving us three cheers 
and asking us what we thought of their Yankee-built ship. Our 
vessels parted then, and when once out of sight never saw each 
other again. 

In those days, if not at present, sailing vessels bound for 
Australia, in order to catch more favorable winds, generally 
sailed as far south as 45 degrees, then made a straight shoot, as 
it were, for Melbourne. This brought ships almost on a line 
with the South Sea Islands. In the neighborhood of these 
Islands the weather was both thick and foggy; it was so much so 
that we hadn’t seen the sun for a couple of days, and on tl\is 
account our ship was, to some extent, sailing at random. 

On the morning of the third day we were still in darkness, 
with the ship running before the wind about sixteen knots an 
hour. The first mate, not knowing his exact position, and 
thinking he saw by the water some indications of land, woke up 
the captain and brought him on deck, and between rubbing his 
eyes and taking in the situation for a moment, he ordered all sail 
to be taken in and the necessary soundings made. This order 
opened the door for alarm, and an exciting time ensued amongthe 
passengers. Some thought the captain was the right sort of a 
man, while others, as usual, cursed him in their own sly way for 
retarding the ship’s progress, as they were in a great way and 
hurry to reach Melbourne. But this is just how a large portion 
of the human family look upon a man to-day who uses caution 
or judgment; he is, in their judgment and estimation, either a 


8 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

fool or a coward^, and not capable of filling the office he holds. 
For my part I did not say much, but I was just as anxious to get 
to Melbourne as any one aboard, but still I preferred at this 
time to sail around the island to taking an overland route. 

It was November 8th when we landed in Australia, and we 
were much surprised to find that it was just the beginning of 
hay harvest; but we never had an idea of traveling all that 
distance on the ocean wave to work in hay—we were going to 
have gold or nothing. 

At this time a new gold field had been discovered in the 
vicinity of Murray river and known by the name of “Indigo,” 
some two hundred miles north, or rather northeast of Mel¬ 
bourne. We remained in Melbourne for a few days, during 
which time we found a teamster going to the mines, and we 
. gave him five dollars each to haul our blankets and mining tools. 
This fellow was receiving about eighty-five dollars a ton for 
hauling general merchandise. We traveled about twenty-five* 
miles a day—some days less and some more, according to how we 
found water to camp by, without any regard to our own wishes 
in the matter. When the time came for retiring for the night 
we took our blankets and made our bed on the ground under the 
wagon and slept very soundly until awakened at daybreak by the 
peculiar call of the magpie, accompanied by the peals of the 
“laughing jackass.” It is not necessary for a man to carry a 
watch to tell him when it is daybreak in the country of Austra¬ 
lia, for those magpies will tell him every time without ever mak¬ 
ing a mistake. These magpies are similar in appearance to 
those we see in the “Old Country,” but their voice appears en¬ 
tirely different and that is, it is more musical. When they be¬ 
come domesticated, in regard to talking they far exceed the 
parrot. A great many small stores by the wayside keep one of 
them in their places of business. If a customer comes in the 
magpie will call “Sally,” or if a customer should lay hands upon 
any article the magpie will shriek at the top of his voice “Rogue! 
rogue! rogue!” The bird is also quite a mimic, and takes spe- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 


9 


cial delight in mimicing cocks crowing. I have heard of parties 
refusing one hundred and twenty-five dollars for their talkative 
friends, the sum offered being no inducement to the owner. 

As we traveled along, the forests or bush differed in appear¬ 
ance widely from anything I had ever seen. The trees were 
mainly of the gum species, and instead of the leaves falling off 
the bark peels off. This gives the trunks of the trees the ap¬ 
pearance of being dead, while the leaves or foliage is green. 

In passing over the Goldbourne river on a punt, we got a 
view of the renowned “platapus.” This fowl, or whatever it 
may be called, appears to have been made up from a little of 
everything. Naturalists, in their imaginary ideas, give it as their 
opinion that this was the primitive bird, and from it all the 
feathered tribes sprung. But as this is only their idea, we will 
just give them credit for the idea and not for what they know 
about it. 

In due time we arrived at the mines. It happened to be 
Sunday morning, and we pitched our tents outside the camp on 
an elevation. We had scarcely finished arranging our tent 
when a crowd of men began to halloo behind or over the eleva¬ 
tion. We wondered very much what was going on, but it was 
soon explained to us by a kangaroo hopping past us. It made 
its way across the diggings through a great crowd of men and 
dogs. The only thing that saved it was that there was so much 
dust kicked up that it was enabled to pass through the shouting 
crowd unobserved. When next I saw that kangaroo it was 
going up the range on the opposite side of the flat at a lively rate, 
followed by hundreds of yelping dogs, but they appeared to be 
no company for the kangaroo. This kangaroo hunting, as I 
afterwards learned, was largely the Sabbath day’s work among a 
large portion of the miners. 

We remained at these mines for a week or two looking over 
the ground. The ground we found to be all taken up, and the 
nearest claim we could take up was several miles from where 
they were getting gold. This was discouraging, to say the least. 


10 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


The sinking was two hundred feet deep, and there was no one, 
seemingly, caring to sink a shaft to this depth for fun; so any 
one possessing a claim contented himself in “shepherding” it 
—that is, working the claim an hour or so every day in order to 
hold it, for if one neglected this duty some one would be sure to 
jump it and take it from him. 

This was too slow work for us, besides our board was very 
high and cutting fast into our little surplus of cash. Water 
cost us twenty-five cents per bucket. This was the first time we 
ever bought this beverage. 

We next heard of another gold-field discovery. It was only 
a few miles off, and we concluded to try our luck upon it. We 
walked to the place, and, seeing others pegging out claims, we 
followed suit. This we thought sufficient for one day’s- accom¬ 
plishment, so-we returned to camp with the understanding that 
we would return again in the morning to do some work. When 
morning came and we had eaten breakfast we started for our 
claim, but on our way became lost in the bush, the result of 
taking a short cut, but as it happened we drew the long one this 
time. We wandered around all day in the hot sun with nothing 
to eat or drink. We became terribly thirsty, especially when it 
became known to us that we couldn’t find any water fit to drink. 
During our wanderings we came across water-holes, but the 
water was so extremely filthy that it wasn’t fit for man to drink 
unless under the most extreme circumstances. There are some 
prohibitionists probably who would tell us that they would 
rather drink such water, filth and all, than take a drink of whis¬ 
ky, and most likely speak the truth, but I am here to say that I 
would prefer the whisky on all such occasions. 

These 'water-holes, as they are called, are dug by ranch or 
station men, as they are generally termed, in the rainy season in 
the valleys or flats, and during the season they become filled with 
water. This is the source from which the cattle in general 
throughout the summer months obtain water, and the constant 
coming and going of herds keeps the water riled and muddy all 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FEILDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 11 

the time. This not only renders the water unfit for even cattle 
to drink, but any other thing. The only way a person can make 
use of such water, provided he has tea, is to boil it and make tea 
out of it, and in this way he may manage to quaff a little. I 
have been obliged to do this many times. 

In our wanderings all the cattle we came across, especiall} r 
unawares, ran away from us like rabbits, apparently perfectly 
wild. 

It was now getting late in the evening, and we knew that 
some thing had to be done, and that right away, and we began 
to study the situation seriously. We concluded that there was 
a bush road from the mining camp to the Murray river that lay 
west of us, and if we kept walking all the time in that direction 
we might accidentally run across it. We did so, and about dark 
came to it, and were then about eight miles from our camp, 
which we reached at about eight o’clock, not only tired, but 
thirsty and hungry in the extreme, and, I might add, with but 
very little starch in our collars. In meditating upon the hard¬ 
ships we had undergone during the d&,/, it was very plain that 
we hadn’t made much, unless it was in the large dose of expe¬ 
rience we had received. 

It was now but a short time after Christmas and wheat¬ 
harvesting time. Hearing that some farmers on the Murray 
river, some ten or twelve miles distant, wanted help in their 
fields, we concluded to leave the mines for the present and go 
there and take a hand at reaping wheat and try to make a little 
stake in a financial way. We crossed the Murray river on a punt 
at a town called Albury. About two miles from this point up 
the river we found a farmer who had several fields of wheat to 
reap. The wheat was very heavy and laying in all directions. 
He offered us five dollars an acre for reaping and board included 
and the privilege of sleeping in the stable at night when the 
horses were out. This privilege we thought very kind of the 
farmer, indeed, and in taking a survey of the man in my own 
way my conclusion was that he had never paid his way to the 


12 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

colony. A great many men were sent to those colonies in early 
days with their passage paid, but, notwithstanding all that, it 
appeared to them to be a leap in the dark, and was looked upon 
not only by them, but by their relatives as well, to be hard and 
disgraceful. But, after all, it turned out to be a blessing to 
many of them in disguise, for we find many of them to-day with 
large farms and well off, but still looked upon with suspicion, as 
many of this class will prefer men who do wrong to those who do 
right. I was informed that if a man goes to them and asks for 
a night’s lodging they might let him sleep in the stable or out¬ 
house, but if he told him that he had committed a crime and the 
police were after him, the farmer would not only feed him, but 
would hide him in the best place about the house. 

We were just in time for dinner. There appeared to be 
plenty on the table to eat, but it was far from being in a shape to 
our liking. The weather was hot and having no ice (it being 
unknown in this part of the colony), the butter was not Only 
strong, but extremely soft—in fact, if it could have gotten loose 
it would not only have walked, but run. Under these circum¬ 
stances we partook of a very light meal, although feeling at the 
same time that we had ample room for more. This made a very 
bad impression on us. We studied over the matter awhile, and 
it was hard for us to decide whether to leave right away or not, 
but as we wanted work we concluded to try harvesting a few days 
anyhow. So we took our sickles and off we went to the wheat- 
fields and reaped the grain that afternoon. When it came time 
to retire for the night we made our beds in the stable and turned 
in. About three o’clock in the morning we were awakened by 
the farmer bringing in his horses to feed. This didn’t suit us 
at all, for we were feeling rather tired, not being used to the 
kind of work we had been doing the day before. We tried to 
work another day, however, but the combination of getting up so 
early in the morning, coupled with the hot sun coming down 
somewhere between 130 and 135 degrees during the day, was 
rather more than we greenhorns could stand, so we threw up the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 13 

job and determined to try the mines again on another field from 
the one we were on. 

In regard to the character of the land along the Murray 
river it is very productive. I was informed by this farmer that 
he often raised seventy-five bushels of wheat to the acre, and a 
hundred bushels of oats. I believed him to be telling the truth, 
for I never saw such wheat as I saw growing here. This pro¬ 
ductiveness of the soil is largely due, of course, to the river over¬ 
flowing its banks every winter. 

The nearest mining camp to us is Beachworth, some twenty- 
five or thirty miles off. We started for there, passing through a 
rough and wild part of the country, and several times were at¬ 
tacked by wild cattle, but managed to keep them off by jumping 
suddenly at them. Reaching Beachworth, as usual, we couldn’t 
find anything to do that we thought would pay, but of course we 
could have turned in and made a living by harvesting wheat. 
In regard to these mines they had been worked out years before. 
The only persons working them at this time were Chinamen, and 
they appeared to be very numerous in the neighborhood. In 
going about the place we passed through one of their camps. I 
was obliged to press my fingers tightly on my nose until I had 
got through it for the stench was really beyond what I could in 
reality stand. We remained in Beachworth for a couple of 
weeks, and, finding a team for Melbourne, we returned to that 
city again, where we" remained for a few weeks. Here my part¬ 
ner and I separated, and, though we aften heard from each 
other, we never saw one another again. He started for Ballarat 
and I for Bendigo. When I arrived at an old mining camp, 
known as Castlemain, some seventy-five miles distant from Mel¬ 
bourne, on the Mt. Alexander road, I fell in with a party of 
miners going to a camp known as Back Creek Daisy Hill, sixty 
miles off. I was as anxious for the road as any of them, and 
made up my mind in short order to accompany them and try 
my luck in that direction. On the evening of the second day’s 
travel we overtook a party of men also bound for the mines. 


14 


Some memories of a miner's life, or 


Among the party were a colored man from Baltimore and a na¬ 
tive of the East Indies. When time for camping arrived we se¬ 
lected a good place in the woods, or bush, and made a huge fire, 
as it was now winter, or rainy season. I found out from their 
conversation that the colored man had been a cook on a vessel 
and had left it at Melbourne, and that the East Indian had been 
a sailor, and that he, too, had left his ship at the same port, both 
apparently determined to try their fortunes on the mines of 
Australia, With the colored man giving his experience at sea, 
coupled with a few snake stories, and the East Indian giving 
some elephant stories, I felt very much at home for the night; 
in fact, I felt so much so that I sat up until twelve o’clock. When 
we were all retiring for the night I felt very much amused at the 
gentleman from the Levant. In preparing himself for bed the 
first thing he did was to tie up his head in a red handkerchief; 
next his feet in the same kind of material. I almost wished that 
a fire would break out in camp during the night just to see this 
fellow get out of bed. In fact, I could not refrain from laugh¬ 
ing at the idea. 

Arriving at these mines, we found ourselves, as usual, too 
late. The ground was all taken up wherever there was the 
slightest show. There is no doubt had we stayed around here 
for a few months we might have done some good, but idling 
around was rather expensive, besides it did not suit us by any 
means, for our ambition was to make a fortune right away, and 
anything short of this didn’t meet our approbation. We only 
stayed at this place a week until we heard of another new gold 
discovery. This time it was on the Pyrenees mountains, about 
twenty-five or thirty miles away. We started for it. We ar¬ 
rived at a small station, or ranch, located on a small stream 
known as the “Bet-Bet,” about nightfall. We ought to have 
reached this station earlier, but we got lost on the way. We 
slept all night in a shepherd's hut. During the night two ox, or 
bullock drivers, as they were called, came in late. They got up 
on a kind of a half loft to sleep and one of them rolled off his 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 15 

roost before morning, but he had so much steam up that he 
didn’t get much hurt, still he caused us the loss of considerable 
sleep. When morning came we started for the new discovery, 
which was now only a few miles off. We learned in the night, 
however, from the shepherd that the new gold field was of no 
account. This statement of the outlook cut no figure with us, 
as we were determined to see the mines anyhow, as we had 
traveled thus far in their direction. 

When we reached the camp we found a small inn with a 
small store attached to it. On the signboard in front of the inn 
was written, “Drag me through the world.” Taking the sur¬ 
roundings in general into consideration, what appeared on the 
signboard seemed strikingly appropriate. It was learned that 
the man who kept the inn and store had started the false report 
in order to make business better, but in this he was fooled. For 
revenge the miners bought him out without a consideration, be¬ 
sides giving him a couple of black eyes, and finally compelled 
him to leave the country or to hide himself completely. It was 
said that this fellow was a Yankee, but Yankee tricks were far 
below par in that country, as the inhabitants appeared not to 
have forgotten the “wooden nutmegs.” 

Here we were again, with out hopes most terribly shaken, 
but we lost no time in brooding over ill-luck. There was an¬ 
other old mining camp known as “Mountain Hut” on this range, 
some distance to the west. We concluded to go there and see 
what could be done, or if there was anything in store for us. 
When we reached this place we found a few miners at work, but 
scarcely making a living. We had a look-around for a few days, 
during which time it became quite apparent that it was no place 
for us to linger, so we took our departure for another old mining 
camp known as the Amphitheatre, some distance further away 
to the west, and at the foot of the same range. In traveling to 
this camp we passed through some very fine forests and nice- 
laying land. My two partners and guides told me they had 
often traveled through these forests in the spring of the year 


16 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

when the ground was almost white with manna. This manna is 
not only found in this part of the country, but in many other 
parts as well. It is simply a kind of honey that falls or drops 
from the leaves of certain kinds of trees in the spring of the 
year. The honey thus dropping in the cool of the morning be¬ 
comes congealed and can be easily gathered. It melts or disap¬ 
pears before the hbt sun, and I might say that it corresponds 
almost in every respect to the manna that fed the children of 
Israel in the wilderness. There is no doubt but that 
the manna which fed the children of Israel fell from 
trees, God using them as a medium for His work, for 
as can be seen, God made use of mediums in all His 
miracles. The children of Israel being told, and believing that 
the manna fell from heaven, although it only fell from the 
leaves of the trees of the forest, would not alter the truth of this 
matter, because it fell through and by the direct will of God, and 
which would be equivalent to it falling direct from heaven. 

Arriving at the Amphitheatre we found it about the same 
as the rest of the mining camps we had already visited. If there 
was any difference it was in the fact that it was largely owned 
and controlled by Chinese. The sinking to the wash-dirt in 
some places, that is, the dirt containing the gold, was about forty 
feet. The wash was very thin and patchy, at that. We re¬ 
mained here a few weeks, sunk two shafts, but didn’t get any¬ 
thing to pay us for our work. But we couldn’t feel so very 
much discouraged at this, as there were thousands of others in 
the same boat as ourselves, and this very often has a soothing 
effect upon one’s disappointment. 

One of my partners now proposed to go to another old mining 
camp known as Mt. Ararat, some thirty miles further to the 
west and rather north of the range. I was right in for the pro¬ 
ject, as we had traveled around so much that I now felt that I 
would about as soon travel as work, for at this time it did appear 
to me doubtful if we had been offered a good steady job 
whether we would have accepted it or not. So we made every- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 17 

thing ready for the journey and started for Mt. Ararat. The 
first night ont we camped somewhere on the northern slope of 
the range. We started a big brush fire and cooked and ate our 
suppers. The night being clear and not very cold, we deemed 
it unnecessary to pitch our tent, but to spread it over us, for the 
purpose of adding a little more to our comfort, and at the same 
time protect us from any dampness that might fall at any time 
during the night. We made our bed a short distance from the 
fire, with our feet towards it. A short time after we had turned 
in one of my companions remarked that his feet were getting 
warm, and raising up to see what was the matter, he discovered 
that the tent was on fire on top of us. We got from under it in 
a hurry, and when the fire was distinguished we made the 
lamentable discovery that there was a large hole burnt in the 
tent, rendering it almost useless. We received a lesson here 
never to lie down so close to a fire again, especially when there 
was grass in the camp. As our camp was well down towards the 
base of the range, about ten o’clock at night it became very inter¬ 
esting to us to hear the cattle rushing past us full speed to the 
valley below to drink. The fact is that between going and 
returning they kept us awake the'greater part of the night. 
For my part I wasn’t a bit annoyed, for I thought it was one of 
the grandest things I ever heard. The country here was en¬ 
tirely new. You might travel a long distance before you would 
even come across a shepherd’s hut. 

When we arrived at Mt. Ararat, after a survey of the town, 
we concluded there was little difference, if any, between this 
mine and all those we had already visited. We are now about at 
the end of our string, and to settle down to only making a living 
was too much for us; in fact we couldn’t entertain the idea for a 
moment. After studying the matter over, and it seeming fool¬ 
ishness to proceed further, we thought it best to return to the 
Amphitheatre and remain there until something new would 
break out or turn up in the shape of mining. I gave one of my 
partners nearly all the loose change I had to go and buy some 


18 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

provisions for the journey. He got drunk, and as he did not 
return in the time we allotted him we started off without his 
company, not even taking provisions for the journey, for we had 
become so mad that we thought we would not feel hungry for a 
week, but in this thought we were mistaken. 

We traveled through the bush in a zigzag way, sometimes 
thinking ourselves lost and sometimes thinking we were not. 
But lost or not lost, we kept traveling all the same. In the 
evening we became extremely hungry, and, as luck would have 
it, we came upon a shepherd’s hut. My partner suggested we 
go in and ask for something to eat. All right, said I, for I 
thought by the way he spoke that he was going to do the asking. 
So we walked into the hut, and we found the only occupant to 
be the shepherd’s wife. She gave us seats and invited us to sit 
down. I waited for my partner to ask for something to eat, and 
he waited for me to do likewise. In this way, of course, neither 
of us said anything. Finally the woman, I am not prepared to 
say whether through charity or a desire to get rid of us, said: 
“I expect as you men are traveling, you must feel hungry and 
would like to have something to eat.” We replied that such was 
what we came in for, but it appeared neither of us had cheek 
enough to ask for it. She laughed and then gave us all we de¬ 
sired of brown bread and mutton chop, and it is needless to say 
that we most hearitly enjoyed it. In fact, we almost thought 
that it was the only meal we ever had in our lives. Feeling now 
refreshed and strengthened, we thanked our benefactress and 
bade her a kindly good-bye, and to this day I think she was one 
of the grandest women that ever lived, regardless of what her 
motive might have been. 

When we reached the Amphitheatre again we found that 
times were no better than when we left. We remained here for 
a few weeks in the hope of some new discovery, but as nothing 
turned up during that time, I not only became disgusted with 
the gold field, but with the country at large. I now made up my 
mind to go to Melbourne and take a ship for California, and 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZB ALAND. 19 


thus bid adieu to Australia. So I left my partner, after bid¬ 
ding him good-bye and wishing him the greatest kind of luck. 

The first night out I camped in the bush and made a good 
brush fire. When I had cooked and eaten my supper, I fell back 
a short distance from the fire and lay down to rest for the night 
under the protection of a large gum tree. About ten o’clock a 
party of natives who had been out opossum hunting had re¬ 
turned and gone into camp a short distance from mg. I could 
see their fire plainly a short time afterwards. I don’t know 
whether they got to fighting over the opossum or not, but they 
raised the greatest noise or hullabaloo I ever heard. For a 
time it appeared to me the devils had fairly broken loose. I got 
out of my bed in a hurry, but I was at a loss what to do. I knew 
if I started on my journey in the dark, it was more than probable 
that I would get lost in the bush. So pondering over the ques¬ 
tion awhile, 1 concluded to stand my ground, regardless of the 
result. As none of the natives made their appearance, I went 
further back into the bush, taking a position so I could see any 
of them if they came to my fire. But as none came, I laid down 
again, but not to sleep, as I thought it much safer to lay with 
my weather eye open. They kept this fight, or noise, up the 
greater part of the night. I couldn’t say that I was strictly 
afraid of these aboriginees, but at the same time I would have 
felt far more comfortable had I been miles away from them. 

This part of the country, that is the neighborhood of the 
Pyrenees mountains, has always been a stronghold of the 
aboriginals tribes, and I was informed that they were a great 
annoyance to early settlers, and the only way the latter got even 
with them was by taking a day once, in awhile and shooting them 
down like so many kangaroos. Such treatment as this would no 
doubt appear cruel in the extreme, but sometimes in such cases 
as this cruelty becomes a necessity. I was also told that it was 
nothing strange to see a war-dance or a boomerang thrown here, 
and while speaking of boomerang-throwing, I never witnessed 
the performance but once, and I never saw anything that aston- 


20 


SOME I EMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

ished me so much. The man who threw it was of low stature, 
black curly hair and heavy build. The party of us who had him 
to perform his feat, he caused to stand to the right of him 
but a short distance back, for that was the only place apparently 
a man could stand with any safety. When all were ready the 
little fellow took the boomerang in his right hand by one end, 
at the same time looking west; he threw it to the northwest. It 
kept all the time turning around like a sickle thrown from a 
man’s hand. It went for some distance circling west, south and 
east; passing him on the circle a rod or so to the east, it turned 
and made for his head. When it came within a few feet of him 
he stooped his head to let it pass and it struck the ground a few 
feet ahead of him with some force; then it skimmed along the 
grass a rod or so before it stopped. He threw it a second time 
and it did exactly the same thing. Each time it would have 
struck him on the head had he not stooped. It appeared to me 
that the boomerang came back to the same level that it started 
on. One strange feature in the case was that from the time the 
boomerang left the little fellow’s hand until it came back again 
he stood in his tracks like a statue, still looking west, never ap¬ 
parently moving a muscle, nor looking after the boomerang, but 
still knowing the exact time to stoop his head. I think he must 
have seen with the tail of his eye the boomerang passing him, 
and measured the distance or its return by time. 

How here was a little man who apparently did not know 
anything, but no doubt his performances would have stalled 
Solomon. Some people say it is all bosh about an Australian 
throwing a boomerang around a house, claiming that the feat 
can not be done. I don’t. suppose it can if the boomerang is 
supposed to hug the house all the way around; but I will tell 
you what the Australian native can do. He can stand in the 
middle of the street in front of a glass window of an isolated 
building and throw his boomerang and it will circle round the 
house and by the thrower stepping aside it will go through the 
window every time. To illustrate, we will suppose the house to 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 21 


be standing west of him. He will keep far enough back of the 
northeast window to allow the boomerang to turn the angle. 
This being done, it will find its way back again and through the 
window all right by standing far enough back from the house. 
In this way the native can send the boomerang around the house 
and through any window they stand in front of on the ground 
floor. 

Another trick these Aboriginees have is that of catching 
ducks. When they see ducks on a lagoon they will go into the 
water, crawl along the bottom until they come to the ducks, then 
rise and catch the fowls by the feet. When one of the natives 
commits a crime he generally takes to a lagoon or river and goes 
to the bottom, where he puts a reed in his mouth through which 
to get air, and in this way he is enabled to remain on the bottom 
of the lagoon or river all day. As they are black a person 
might pass them by unnoticed at a short distance. To guard 
against this ruse, a policeman when on the hunt of them gener¬ 
ally takes an Aboriginal along with him, he, of course, being up 
to all the tricks of his kind. 

Another peculiar trait in their character is their mode and 
skill in following the track of either man or beast in the plains 
or bush. They are almost as expert at this as a bloodhound. 
They have been instrumental in early times of saving a great 
many lives. All that is necessary is to show them where a child 
or a man started from, and once they find the track, they will 
find them dead or alive. How they can run those tracks is as¬ 
tonishing, for the grass is generally very short, but as they were 
brought up and trained to it from their youth, they can discern 
the slightest imprint or depression in the grass or leaves and the 
breaking of the smallest twig. I was once informed by a man 
that hauled freight to the miners with oxen that one time his 
oxen left the stockyard with the yoke on their necks and lost it 
in the bush, and that he hunted from morning until noon and 
couldnT find it and finally gave it up. He then procured a na¬ 
tive and took him to the stockyard, showed him the oxens* tracks, 


22 SOME M EMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

and in less than a half hour he was back with the yoke. The 
man said how this native followed the tracks from the yard gate 
among hundreds of other tracks was beyond his comprehen¬ 
sion. 

The Australian natives, like all other Aboriginal tribes, are 
very fond of rum or anything else that will intoxicate. They 
will fight among themselves when 'intoxicated and kill each 
other if they can. To guard against this, the Australian gov¬ 
ernment places a heavy fine on any publican known to have sold 
them any stimulants, besides taking away his license. But not¬ 
withstanding all this the natives manage to get drunk pretty 
often just the same. 

On my way to Melbourne I stopped at a hotel for a few 
days to rest up, as I was tired carrying my swag. One evening 
during this time a party of perhaps a dozen natives, men and 
women, came and went into camp apparently for the night close 
to the hotel. They made a fire, and a short time afterwards 
they were making enough noise for a thousand people. All the 
women about the hotel ran to lock the doors. I was anxious to 
know what was going on, and of course wanted out. The 
women all advised me not to go out, for they might kill me. I 
looked upon their advice, of course, as a great kindness, but still 
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and as I stepped out 
of the door it was locked behind me, thus cutting off my retreat, 
as it were; but still I wasn’t afraid, as I had made up my mind 
not to interfere with them in anyway. I stood just in their path 
so they would have to pass close to me in order to get upon the 
main road. The women in the party had mostly hidden them¬ 
selves by this time about the stables. What was prolonging the 
fuss was an old man and his wife. They were both clad in 
opossum robes fastened at the neck. He was trying his best as 
they moved along to strike her with his fists, but as his hands 
were inside the robe, his blows had no effect. But still it was 
comical to witness. As far as I could learn the cause of all this 
fuss was that the natives before coming here had partaken of 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 23 

some whisky, and after sitting around their fire awhile it had 
taken effect. This no sooner happened than they began to fight. 
The old man must have struck his old wife over the head with a 
stick, for her head was bleeding when they passed by me. For 
this abuse it was natural for the old woman to give her hus¬ 
band some back talk. This he wouldn’t stand, and he tried hard 
to make her hush up, and if possible to get the last word, which 
would have been very foolish on his part, even at a more ad¬ 
vanced state of civilization. She finally beat her husband out, 
as might be expected, for as they rounded the angle of the build¬ 
ing I could hear that she was still one ahead. 

When I arrived at Melbourne I could not find a vessel going 
direct to California, as all the American ships at this time as 
soon as they were unloaded sailed for China or some other parts 
in the east, in order to procure back loading. Here I was out 
of luck again, with nothing left me to do but turn back in the 
country again and take a job at farming or anything else that 
might happen to present itself. I secured a job with a farmer 
some twenty-five miles from Melbourne and remained of and on 
with him for several years, and during this time I took several 
journeys through different parts of the colony. Among the 
parts visited were Geelong and the famous Ballarat. The latter 
place, I suppose, was one of the richest gold mines ever dis¬ 
covered, yet I was informed that every dollar of gold taken out 
cost a dollar. 

In regard to farming, although I now began to like the 
country very much, and more especially the climate, still I never 
entertained a desire to become a farmer. This was largely on 
account of the large floating population, principally caused by 
the gold mines. A great many of those miners are still on the 
move in both directions—some to and others from the mines— 
and the greater portion of them, as the miners themselves term 
it, “hard up” and without a cent in their pockets. Those men 
naturally find their way to farm houses, and if one of those 
farmers would give to every man who would call at his door for 


24 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 


something to eat, all he could raise on his small farm wouldn’t 
go around; and if the farmer fails to give, or gets the name of 
being stingy, he throws himself liable to be burned out. This 
state of affairs made farming very discouraging business and 
doubtless it kept a great many from embarking in that class of 
labor. When the mines fail to give support to this floating 
population, then, doubtless, Australia will be the better off, for 
men will have to settle down to farming and more staple busi¬ 
ness, and then that country will become rich, for there is no get¬ 
ting around the fact that Australia is, and always will be, a 
great country, although it may have its up and downs like other 
countries. But these ups and downs, as we may call them, will 
be like whipping a child—may be hard, but very often turns out 
to be a benefit. 

In regard to sheep-raising, a great many people say by way 
of argument that sheep can be raised cheaper in Australia than 
they cau in America. This kind of talk will do for a man who 
has never been out of the country he was born in. Now the fact 
of the matter is that when we take everything into consideration, 
it is very doubtful whether sheep can be raised cheaper in 
Australia than in America for various reasons. In the first 
place if a man has an old sheep in America he generally can 
find a market for it. In Australia he has to knock them in the 
head and boil them down for whatever little tallow there may be 
in them, and send the product to England or elsewhere and sell 
it for whatever it will bring. This is the principal way Austral¬ 
ians have of disposing of their old sheep. 

In the second place there are parts of southern and western 
Australia where water is so scarce that it has to be hauled to 
both sheep and shepherd a distance of thirty miles, and this in¬ 
curs a great expense that an American sheep-raiser knows noth¬ 
ing about, or at least a great many of them do not. 

In the third place it is not uncommon to hear of whole 
flocks of sheep in New South Wales and other parts of the colo¬ 
nies when coming to rivers in their eagerness for water drown- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 25 

ing themselves, they rushing, as sheep will under such circum¬ 
stances, into the water and are lost. The shepherd in such 
cases becomes helpless to save his flock. This is, therefore, an¬ 
other great loss which an American sheep-farmer knows nothing 
about. 

In the fourth place there are many places in the colonies 
where the wild dogs destroy a great many sheep, for which the 
owner receives no recompense. In America the owners gen¬ 
erally get paid for their sheep killed by dogs. 

In the fifth place, on account of so many railroads, it 
doesn’t cost an American farmer as much to get his wool to 
market as it generally does an Australian. 

In the sixth place the ranch or station men of Australia 
employ more hands to do the same amount of work, and, as a 
general rule, pay them better wages than they are paid in 
America. These being the facts, it is plain that they are not as 
much in favor of the Australian wool-grower as is generally be¬ 
lieved. 

During the time I lived with the farmer and in Australia 
I took a hand at almost everything except driving oxen. The 
first five hundred dollars I saved I put in a bank in Melbourne, 
and a short time afterwards the bank broke. Several years after¬ 
wards I managed to get about half of it back. 

Thus at the end of five years in the colony I found my 
financial condition rather worse than when I landed. This 
condition, to use a marine phrase, was almost enough to make 
a fellow “give three cheers and jump overboard.” But I made 
up my mind not to die without kicking a little, anyhow, and 
with a determination not to give up the chase. I kept my eyes 
and ears open for fields and pastures new, should they present 
themselves. 


26 


SOME M EMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER II. 

OFF FOR NEW ZEALAND. 

A few months prior to this a gold-field had been discovered 
in the Province of Otago, New Zealand. This province is situ¬ 
ated in the southeastern part of what is known as the Middle 
Island, Dunedin being the principal seaport town, distant from 
Melbourne about sixteen hundred miles. A large num¬ 
ber of miners had left here at the time of the "rush,” 
and I soon became strongly of the notion to follow 
them to the newly-discovered gold-field. But, having "struck it 
bare” so often on other fields, I finally resolved to remain where 
I was until I could more fully satisfy myself as to how the new 
mines would materialize. 

As usual, however,' reports came that a number of the 
miners were doing well, but pretty soon a reaction set in, and a 
large portion of the miners returned to Victoria again. The re¬ 
turning miners gave New Zealand a very bad name. Among 
many other things derogatory to the country they said that wood 
was so scarce that when they went to boil the "billy” (a colonial 
name for a small tin bucket used in making tea or coffee), they 
were obliged to set fire to the long grass and run after it until 
they could get it boiled. They also stated that, owing to the 
great roughness of the country, a miner was at a disadvantage 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 27 

unless lie was fortunate enough to possess a horse and pack- 
saddle to carry his mining tools and provisions, and in conclus¬ 
ion said that New Zealand was the last country that God made, 
and he did not take time to finish it. 

I now began to congratulate myself for being so fortunate 
once as not to have gone to New Zealand. But pretty soon 
comes the report that gold has been discovered in paying quan¬ 
tities in the Molyneux river at a place called the Dunstan, and 
the demand for lumber to make cradles to separate the gold 
from the sand was so great that one hundred dollars was freely 
paid for an empty gin case. 

These reports captured me, and I no longer halted between 
two opinions. I had no trouble in securing a partner \vho was 
as anxious to make the journey as myself, and, being reminded 
that New Zealand was a rough county, we secured a horse and 
pack-saddle, and otherwise equipped ourselves for the long and 
toilsome journey to the newly-discovered gold-fields, our minds, 
it may be understood, being pretty well filled with gold and for¬ 
tune galore. 

The steamship Omeo, plying between Dunedin and Mel¬ 
bourne, would be due in a few days from the former place; but 
the excitement became so great that we were compelled to secure 
our passage before the ship’s arrival, paying forty-five dollars 
apiece for ourselves and sixty dollars for the horse, on the main 
deck. The Omeo arrived on time, and the vessel was no sooner 
unloaded at Melbourne than she was reloaded for Dunedin, prin¬ 
cipally with men and horses for the Dunstan. 

We left Melbourne on the evening of the 12th day of De¬ 
cember, 1862, and on the evening of the 18th, just as the sun 
was going down, the Omeo dropped her anchor in the pretty 
little harbor of Port Chalmers. This port is situated at the 
mouth of the bay that runs up to Dunedin and nine miles dis¬ 
tant from the latter place. Our reason for landing here was 
partly owing to it being a better place to land horses and partly 
on account of some shallow water in the bay. Port Chalmers we 


28 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


found to be a small place, being built on the slope of a range 
that overlooks the harbor. The ground upon which the town 
stands is rough and irregular. The population of the town I 
should judge to be about four hundred. 

Leaving such a town as Melbourne, a small village like Port 
Chalmers had no charm for us, so we remained on board our 
ship for the night. 

As regards our passage from Melbourne to Port Chalmers 
nothing transpired worthy of note, beyond the customary sea¬ 
sickness, of which we experienced several well-proportioned 
doses. Our sea-sickness I believe to have been largely caused by 
the presence of so many horses aboard, as at times the stench 
between decks was almost unendurable, even to the stoutest and 
most invulnerable nasal organs. But we all survived it. 

About seven o’clock on the morning of the 19th a flat-boat 
came alongside our vessel to take off the horses, and as our horse 
was on the main deck we were taken ashore by the first boat. 
Being landed, we realized that it was now every man for him¬ 
self, and with this idea we started for Dunedin, not waiting to 
see the remaining passengers off. We traveled along the foot of 
a range of hills or mountains that run parallel with the bay to 
its head, the bay being on our left. Arriving at the head of the 
bay another range of mountains crossed our bows and ran in a 
northerly direction, and on a narrow strip of land that lays be¬ 
tween the foot of this range and head of the bay lies the town 
of Dunedin. By the time we had found a hotel and saw that 
our horse had been cared for dinner was ready. Not having had 
a good meal since leaving Melbourne, owing to sea-sickness, the 
summons to the dinner table was indeed a most agreeable one. 

There is a species of fish called the barracouda to be found 
in plenty in the bay at Dunedin, and as they cost but a trifle 
compared to beefsteak at twenty-five cents per pound, the reader 
can easily understand why the hotel-keeper at Dunedin was 
“stuck” on barracouda. It was barracouda for breakfast, bar¬ 
racouda for dinner, and I would not miss it a great way if I say 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 29 

barracouda for supper. .The “boys” call them “otago” (coat of 
arms). Nevertheless they are good, palatable fish, and hard to 
beat by any other species of the finny tribe. 

Dinner over, we set to work buying provisions and mining 
tools, so as to be ready for an early start for the Dunstan in the 
morning. This work accomplished, we take a look at the town. 
With the bay in front and the range at its back, we found build¬ 
ing sites in Dunedin very limited, so much so that one street 
almost comprised its extent. This street is called Princess street, 
and it runs parallel with the head of the bay. Nearly all the 
houses outside of this street are built on terraces and are 
reached by steps of various designs. At the upper or north end 
of the town a pile of rocks, blended with sand, stands out in the 
bay about 200 yards from the mainland. The inhabitants say 
that, according to the chart. Captain Cook sailed between these 
rocks and the mainland. If this be true, and I believe it to be 
correct, then it is needless to say that the ground upon which 
the principal part of the town of Dunedin now stands was con¬ 
siderably under water in those days. The town being situated 
on the western, or rather southwestern, slope of the range, and 
the wind blowing almost continually from the same direction, 
causes the place to be very wet, and therefore not a very desirable 
place of abode. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, it is a good 
business place and doubtless has a good future before it. The 
town supplies nearly all the mining towns of the province at 
present. It was founded in 1848, under the auspices of the Free 
Kirk of Scotland. These settlers did their utmost to keep out 
all other nationalities. When a man came here who was not a 
Scotchman he was dogged at every step. This stupidity was 
carried to such an extent that no one would sell him 
anything to eat and all information concerning the country was 
refused him. This uncivil treatment on the part of the settlers, 
coupled with the repelling looks of the country, had the effect 
of putting a fellow in good shape to be easily “coaxed” to J leave. 
The “bloody” settlement, as an Englishman would term it, with 


30 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

the conservative tendencies of those old “Identities,” as the early 
settlers were called, as might be expected, the colony made but 
little progress until the discovery of gold there in 1861. Then 
a large immigration set in from the sister colonies and from 
Europe and drove the old Identities to the wall to stay. This 
proved a great blessing to themselves, as well as to the country 
at large. The town of Dunedin at this time has a population of 
from two to three thousand, and the inhabitants are mostly 
Scotch, as under the existing state of affairs it could not well be 
otherwise. 

At six o’clock in the evening the mail-coach from the inte¬ 
rior of the province brought a great account of a new gold-field 
just discovered by a man by the name of Fox, in the vicinity of 
Lake Wakatipu, one hundred and forty miles north. This 
news excited us very much, and we impatiently awaited the com¬ 
ing of morning when we were to begin our journey. Early in 
the night it began raining, and it fairly poured down for three 
nights and three days following, scarcely ceasing in its down¬ 
pour for a moment. We became very restless from two causes: 
first, that every day we were off the gold-field w r e were losing a 
fortune, and second, because the size of our hotel bill was grow¬ 
ing rapidly, notwithstanding we were dieting mainly on barra- 
couda, while paying beefsteak prices. Our fears were that 
should we be detained at the hotel much longer w r e Avould be 
compelled to sell our horse in order to liquidate the landlord’s 
claim against us. In this event we would most likely have 
found ourselves somewhat like the colored man—compelled to 
look in the dictionary for sympathy. 

With these extremes confronting us we concluded, or rather 
determined, to leave town after dinner on the third day, rain 
or shine, and so informed the landlord of our determination. 
That worthy thought it madness to leave in the rain, but we 
had a suspicion that ho coveted our horse far more than he felt 
concerned for our comfort, and we paid but little attention to 
his admonitions. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 31 

Although it had been raining for three nights and was still 
at it well into the third day, with still the appearance of being 
able to keep it up for forty days and nights longer, yet I never 
heard a man or woman complain. All seemed to be well sup¬ 
plied with umbrellas, and went about their business as happy, 
to all appearances, as though the sun was shining. It was plain 
to us that such weather was no novelty to them. 

At two o’clock p. m. we had everything packed ready for 
the road. There were two roads leading to the gold fields— 
one called the upper, and the other the lower Taire. We chose 
the former, as we had been informed that it was the better road; 
and by doing so our course was directly over the mountain range. 
The further up the range we got the faster the rain appeared 
to fall, and by the time we reached the summit our clothing was 
pretty thoroughly soaked, and it was fast becoming dark. We 
made up our minds to camp for the night, and began to look 
around for a suitable place to pitch our tent. This we found 
a few hundred feet down the eastern slope. With no timber 
from which to get a pole for our tent, we managed in a fashion 
to raise it above us with two long-handled shovels which our 
mining outfit furnished. Our tent prepared we set about 
the preparation of some coffee. But where were we to get 
wood necessary to build a fire? was the question that perplexed 
us considerably. But we wanted coffee, and wanted it very 
badly, and this gave us the determination to get the wood if 
any were procurable in the neighborhood. After a half hour’s 
search in the drenching rain we secured enough to make the 
“billy” boil, and then partook of supper, after which, as we had 
no fire by which to sit or dry our saturated garments, we retired 
for the night, taking the horse-blanket for our couch. This 
was rather rough on the horse, but we knew we could buy a 
match for the equine much easier than we could procure a dupli¬ 
cate for ourselves. Our wet boots served as pillow. This, in¬ 
deed, was hard, but, as we afterwards found, it was only a mild 
introduction to what was to follow. 


32 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINERS LIFE, OR 

It stopped raining sometime during the night and the early 
morning found me awake and longing for sunrise, and that 
luminary no sooner made his appearance than I beheld him. 
As I had not seen him for about four days I hailed his presence 
with a joy approaching the exultant, and his coming was as 
welcome to me as the reception of “good news from a far coun¬ 
try.” I dressed myself without delay, and walked out to survey 
the landscape. One look and I was astonished at the novelty 
of the landscape; the earth and all things visible that it con¬ 
tained appeared so widely different from anything I had before 
seen, that I felt scared or awed at the strangeness, and for a 
time felt like retiring withing the tent again until I could sat¬ 
isfy myself that I was still in the same old world, though 
thousands of miles from my native land. 

The land from the foot of the mountain range rose gradu¬ 
ally towards the north, and as I was almost on the top of the 
range I could see a long distance, and all the land my eyes were 
capable of surveying had a striking resemblance to the sea in 
a heavy storm. Here and there in the distance appeared a 
small clump of timber, but the greater part of the country was 
“bald,” as the Hew Zealander terms it, with the exception of 
a few cabbage or grass trees that were growing on the tops of 
those waves, as it were, and which, in the distance, had the 
appearance of men. I was so much interested with the novelty 
and grandeur of the scenery, after I got over my scare, that I 
called to my partner to arise and come forth and behold one 
of the grandest sights he ever saw, and one that would amply 
repay him for all the trials and perplexities he had undergone 
since leaving Melbourne, including his barracouda diet. This 
rare, entrancing scenery made a good impression on us, and we 
hurried up breakfast, and were on. the road again, headed for 
Dunstan. 

Knowing the great scarcity of wood along our route, we 
tied the water bucket to the pack-saddle, and every scrap of wood 
we came across in our journey was picked up and placed in the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 33 


bucket, and by noon the pail was not half full. Picking up 
wood in this way was an every-day task to the end of the journey. 
At times we would be rather short of wood with which to make 
sufficient fire to boil the “billy,” but we generally made up that 
deficiency with spear-grass. This grass grows in bunches, the 
blades of which vary from six inches to two feet in length, and 
about an inch wide. It is thick and stiff, the blades tapering 
to a point, hence the name of spear-grass. In walking, should 
you strike it with you r foot, it will prick you through the leather 
of your boot; and if it should happen, as it often does, to strike 
you above the boot-tops you will be made conscious of its pres¬ 
ence. While in Colorado a short time ago I noticed grass that 
appeared to me to be the same as the New Zealand spear-grass; 
but if it was not, it is certainly most closely allied to it. 

On the third day of our journey we overtook a couple of 
miners, who, like ourselves, were just over from Australia. We 
were not long in forming acquaintance. They prevailed upon 
us to sell them a half interest in the horse, for they were weary 
of carrying their “swag” and mining, tools. As they seemed to 
be straightforward, well-meaning men, skilled in mining, etc., 
we parted with a half interest in our animal, losing no time in 
making the deal or loading their mining outfit onto the pack- 
saddle. By this time we were bending our energies to get to 
the gold fields, and already had built some very imposing castles 
in the air. 

As the country was new, we experienced much difficulty in 
crossing the streams, there being no bridges. At noon, when 
camped for dinner, we were joined by several other parties— 
some coming from the mines, and others, like ourselves, bound 
for them. 

While dinner was being prepared, I took a stroll with a 
view of taking a look at the strange country. While so en¬ 
gaged I picked up a large bone. Being more than an ordinarily 
large bone, it had attracted my attention, and my curiosity was 
such that I examined-it very closely. At this late day I can 


34 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

not recall whether I opened my mouth at the time or not in 
order to see it all, but it is most likely that I did. The closer 
I examined the bone the more I was nonplussed as to what 
animal it had come from. I thought of all the animals from 
a moose to an elephant, but I failed to determine in my mind 
what animal it belonged to. My curiosity led me to carry the 
bone into camp, where I exhibited my trophy to the men, and 
asked* them if any one could tell me what infernal animal that 
bone belonged to. One replied that it was the leg-bone of the 
moa-bird. This rather stunned me, for as I could not find an 
animal large enough for the bone, I was rather set back at 
being informed that it was the bone of a bird. I felt very flat 
over this for some time, for I thought this man knew I was 
“newly-landed” in the country, and he was trying to perpetrate 
a joke at my expense. I said nothing but kept my eye on the 
gentleman for some time to see if he was smiling; but as he nor 
any of the other boys smiled, I became the more mixed up. 
My conclusion was that my informant was some Smart Aleck, 
and that bone never belonged to any bird of sea or land. I will 
say more about the bones of this bird at a future time. 

The first mining town we came to was the celebrated 
Dunstan, where an empty gin case a few months before readily 
sold for one hundred dollars. The town is located on the east 
bank of the Molyneux river, at the mouth of a gorge, and on 
the northern portion of what is known as the Dunstan Flat. 
This flat has evidently been the bottom of a small lake at one 
time. The town itself is a small place, with probably not more 
than two hundred inhabitants; but it is the centre of a large 
mining district, where the miners come in to exchange their 
gold for provisions. This naturally makes it a good business 
place; but when the gold fails, its failure is almost sure to fol¬ 
low. The country ground is rough and mountainous. Great 
ranges of mountains are running in all directions, some of them 
rising to the height of perpetual snow. Although the Dunstan 
is situated only some eighty or ninety miles from Dunedin, the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 35 


climate is entirely different. Very little rain falls in the valleys, 
but it can snow on these mountain ranges in the middle of sum¬ 
mer almost as easily as it can in midwinter. All the little 
patches of land capable of cultivation and producing crop must 
be irrigated. Another drawback to the country is the scarcity 
of wood. Some of the inhabitants make a living by going up 
on the ranges and gathering a prickly scrub resembling the black 
thorn. They sell a double-handful of it for twenty-five cents— 
about as much as would boil a. “billy” twice. 

The Molyneux river, in a great many places where rock- 
bound, is not over one hundred feet wide; but where the river 
is free from rocks it widens to about three hundred feet. The 
water is generally from twenty-five to thirty feet below the top 
of the banks, and no flood ever causes her to overflow. One can 
not tell, even at a short distance, where it runs. The stages of 
water vary from five to twenty feet, with a current running, it 
is said, at the rate of seven miles an hour. The river also has 
a very strong undcr-current. This under-current, coming in 
contact with rocks in the bottom, causes the water in a great 
many places to boil ud like a cauldron, making a sight frightful 
to look upon ; This liver is also the outlet of two small lakes— 
Wanaka and Wakatipu. The former is situated about twenty- 
five miles from the Dunstan in a northeasterly direction. The 
Molyneux river retains its name to the former lake, while the 
Eiver Cowarra is the outlet for the latter, and forms a junc¬ 
tion with the Molyneux about ten miles north of Dunstan. In 
the vicinity of these two lakes the country is extremely moun¬ 
tainous, and many of the ranges are covered with snow the 
year round. This snow melting through the spring and summer 
keeps a high stage of water in these rivers fully ten months in 
the year. The lowest stage of water is generally from the 
first to the fifteenth of August. This is usually the coldest part 
of winter in this country, and it was at this particular time 
(1861) that gold was discovered in the Molyneux. 


36 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN THE MOLYNEUX RIVER. 

The history of the discovery of gold in the Molyneux river 
is that in August, 1861, two miners left a mining camp known 
as “Gabriel's Gullv,” on a prospecting tour. They first struck 
the Molyneux river about forty or fifty miles south of Dunstan. 
They followed the river up, and the further they went, the better, 
that is, the more pay gold they found, until their arrival at 
Dunstan, where they “struck it rich,” to use a suggestive 
phrase. They went to work with might and main, and in a 
short time their labors were rewarded by seventy-four pound 
weight of the precious metal. 

A short time before this the Provincial Government sent 
out a prospecting party in search of new gold fields, and also 
offered a reward of $2,500 to any party or parties who would 
discover a new field that would produce so many ounces of gold 
in three months. This Government party had already struck 
the Molyneux river a few miles south of Dunstan, and by some 
means or other, the two miners mentioned found it out. Know¬ 
ing they would soon be discovered, they wisely concluded that 
the best thing for them to do was to go to the Government and 
claim the reward before their own party would return with the 
news of their discovery. They, therefore, hastened to Dunedin, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 37 

the seat of Government, taking good care to avoid the Govern¬ 
ment party on their way. When the two miners reached 
Dunedin and told of their discovery, at the same time producing 
the gold to back up their statements, there was no small amount 
of excitement created among the citizens. It was then every 
man for Dunstan who was foot-loose. Although it was cold 
winter at the time, some of the men in their great hurry and 
rush threw away their overcoats lest they might impede their 
hurry to the gold fields. 

One who never saw one of those “rushes,” as they are 
called, can have but a faint idea of the excitement they create. 
When those excited, yes, wild, gold-seekers, arrived at the 
Dunstan gold could be plainly seen in the sand along the beach; 
but the great obstacle that presented itself was that the gold 
was mixed with a very tine black sand almost as heavy as the 
gold itself. To separate the two was a very tedious and difficult 
task without the aid of a cradle, and even with one, and hence 
the high price paid for lumber. Such as could not obtain lum¬ 
ber at any price, with which to make cradles, carried their wash- 
dirt, that is, the gold, gravel and sand to the top of the bank, 
or above high-water mark, to be washed at a future time. All 
this hurry and excitement was caused by the uncertainty of the 
river, for it was liable to rise any minute, and as the best of 
the gold lay just at the edge of the water, a six-inch rise would 
have covered the greater part of it. The miners knew this, 
and to see the gold shining at their feet was a powerful incentive 
for them to work with a will. Before the rise in the river came, 
however, there was enough gold taken from it to secure the two 
miners who discovered it the reward offered by the Government. 
The reward in this ease, as in many similar ones, did the recipi¬ 
ents no good. In fact, it proved their curse. Before twelve 
months one of them died in the asylum, the result of dissipa¬ 
tion, and the other was carrying his swag over the mountains in 
search of more gold. 

The Molyneux river, from Lake Wanaka to the sea, is 


38 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


about seventy-four miles in length, and there is gold in the 
river all the way; but, owing to the generally high stage of 
water, it is seldom that any of it can be obtained. 

When we went to buy some provisions to recruit our dimin¬ 
ished stock, we found them as high in proportion as we did 
the wood. Flour was 18 cents per pound; dark brown sugar 62 
cents per pound; side meat 62 cents; and common black tea 75 
cents per pound. Green tea is seldom used in the Colonies. 
Having secured a sufficient amount of these commodities, we 
were soon on our way to Foxe’s, distant some forty miles. 
Before starting, however, we made some inquiry in regard to 
the road, and were informed that, owing to the river being rock- 
bound for a considerable distance, we would be obliged to travel 
to the vicinity of Lake Wanaka before we could get a ferry¬ 
boat and a place where our horse could swim the river with 
safety. This from the start threw us out of a direct course some 
twenty miles; but a direct course is never inquired after in 
New Zealand. The question always is: How are we to get 
there? We traveled along the bank of the river to the vicinity 
of the junction of the Cowarra with the Molyneux. We then 
found it impossible to follow, the bank of the river any further, 
owing to the rocks end the steepness of the ground. So we 
abandoned that trail, and got a few hundred feet further up on 
the Crinoline of the range. Arriving there we found it a very 
hard and dangerous road to travel. Although we were now 
several hundred feet above the river, owing to the great steep¬ 
ness of the ground the river appeared to be almost underneath 
us. The current seemed to be running at the rate of ten or 
twelve miles an hour. This, coming in contact with the rocks 
in the bottom, caused the waters to boil up continually, as before 
stated, like a cauldron To look down upon the turbulent 
waters made our heads swim, besides causing us to become a 
little shaky at the knees. On this account we avoided looking 
down as much as possible. Even our horse seemed to realize 
the danger. We lost no unnecessary time, but pushed forward 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 39 


as rapidly as possible—one leading the horse while two others 
kept their long-handled shovels to the pack-saddle to keep it from 
turning, at the same time steadying the horse. We traveled in 
this manner for quite a distance, and, it might be said, all the 
way. A misstep woiild, in all probability, cost any of us our 
life. When we reached the bottom of the range we found a 
man with a skiff. The skiff looked to me to be rather a small 
craft to carry us over such a large and dangerous-looking stream. 
Every time I looked at the river and skiff it made me feel very 
uneasy for our safety, should we venture on the trip. The river 
was quite different ot this point from any place I had seen it yet. 
The water was almost on a level with the banks, and the stream 
some three hundred feet wide and running swift and smooth, 
while the water was so clear that a speck of gold or a pin could 
almost be seen at the bottom of the river. When the boatman, 
and four of our party, together with the mining tools, provisions 
and pack-saddle, were loaded into the skiff it sank to the water’s 
edge beneath the weight. As it fell upon me to lead the horse 
the boatman instructed me to take my seat in the stern of the 
skiff, and keep his head out of the water, as there was danger of 
drowning him. I would have liked very much to have been ex¬ 
cused from this duty, but as the job fell to me, I concluded to 
do the best I could to perform it. So I stepped reluctantly into 
the skiff with halter in hand. When all had been seated the 
boatman cautioned all to keep their seats, no matter what hap¬ 
pened, for on that, in a large measure, depended our safety. 
With this injunction the boatman pulled on the oars and our 
skiff glided over the water very nicely until it struck the swift 
current, when the boatman seemed powerless to manage it, and 
we drifted with the current for a considerble distance. About 
this time I made sure that all was up with us, but the boatman, 
by an extraordinary effort, righted the skiff again, and pulled 
like a sturdy marine hero for the shore. During the excitement 
I had forgotten all ebout the horse, but was soon brought to a 
sense of my duty by a spray of water thrown over us, accom- 


40 SOME 31PMOKIES OF A MINERS LIFE, OR 

panied by three snorts that would have knocked the “Leather- 
wood God” into the shade. For an instant I was certain that 
some monster water animal was behind me, and I was almost 
ready to jump to :ny feet, when I discovered that it was the 
horse that gave vent to those snorts. I never told the boys about 
this incident, not caring that they should have the laugh on 
me. I felt very sore over it, however, for some time, but the 
joy I felt in getting ashore safely soon banished all small things 
from my mind. 

There are a great many people who only think themselves 
lucky when left a fortune by an old deceased uncle or aunt, but 
any one traveling in New Zealand for a short time will discover 
that there are as many ways of being lucky as there are in 
choking a dog. 

But we are all safe this far on our journey, but our trials and 
tribulations are by no means over. As a matter of fact, the 
general forecast of things now make us feel that our troubles 
have only begun. The next obstacle to be overcome is a high, 
rugged mountain range running in an easterly and westerly 
direction. Fox’s—the gold diggings we are making for— 
lies at the foot of the opposite or north side of this range. If 
we get there we must cross it. The range appears to be only 
a few miles away, but it is three times further off than it seems 
to be. There is only one saddle or place known to us that we 
can cross this range with a horse, and that is more than a day’s 
journey to the west. It is now noon and we want to make the 
top of the saddle or pass, our camping place, by night of the 
following day, should no bad luck befall us. We pack our outfit 
and in a short time are on our toilsome journey again. 

The land we are traveling over was once a part of the 
bottom of Lake Wanaka, and is very rough and uneven, making 
it difficult traveling with our heavly-loaded horse. When night 
came, not being able to find a place, owing to the everywhere 
presence of rocks, to stick our shovels in order to support our 
tent, we selected a site at one time the bed of a small mountain 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 41 


stream. During the night it commenced to rain, and in a 
short time the water was running underneath and around us. 
We got up and sat on our bedclothes till morning, as it was 
raining so hard that there seemed to be nothing to gain by leav¬ 
ing the tent. Morning came and found us still there holding- 
down our bedclothing. After breakfast we “struck tents” and 
were soon on the road again, our day’s journey being devoid of 
any unusual incidents other than those met with on previous 
days. Night came, and, according to our calculations, we 
reached the summit of the range or rather top of the saddle or 
pass and camped for the night. After a tolerably peaceful 
slumber, I awakened early in the morning and went forth to 
view the country while the boys in camp were preparing break¬ 
fast. Walking west from our camp I discovered that we were 
almost at the extreme west end of the range. A little further 
west lay the River Cowarra, the land from where I stood reced¬ 
ing abruptly to it. Before me was one of the most magnificent 
landscape views possible for man to see, and one that was only 
limited in extent by the weakness of the eye. The extensive 
view I beheld was made possible on account of this being a divid¬ 
ing range. The elevation of this range closely approaches 6,000 
feet above sea level, and there is no doubt but that it separated 
the waters of Lake Wakatipu from those of Lake Wanaka when 
those two lakes were in their glory. Now these lakes have re¬ 
ceded or dried up until the former now only covers an area of 
112 square miles, while that of the latter 75 square miles—mere 
specks compared with their former greatness. Looking south¬ 
ward was seen a large portion of the Province of Southland; 
further to the east lay the Province of Otago, of which I had a 
commanding and extensive view. Casting my eyes northward 
I beheld the snow-capped mountains in the Province of Canter¬ 
bury. Though it appeared that I could see from Dan to 
Beersheba, as it were, the only spot of level land my eyes could 
locate was in the vicinity of the two lakes mentioned. All was 
mountain ranges running in all directions and covered with 


42 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


bowlders, from small to large, and lying as closely together as 
seemed possible for them to get from the base to the summit of 
the ranges. They seemed to say, The mighty ocean rolled over 
us for ages and up to a comparatively late day. In all that 
vast expanse of landscape not a man or house was to be seen— 
not even an animal of any description. The only thing possess¬ 
ing life that I noticed was the kaka, or brown parrot, and this 
bird seemed to find its sole amusement in flying from one rock 
to another, with nothing apparently to dispute its rights. 
While this landscape was grand, sublime and novel in the ex¬ 
treme—such as would put art to shame—yet the rockiness of 
the country, coupled with its irregularities and lack of animated 
nature, gave it such a desolate and repulsive aspect that the be¬ 
holder could easily understand how Robinson Crusoe felt when 
he exclaimed: “Oh, had I the wings of a dove,” etc. 

But I now hear the boys calling me to breakfast. It is 
Saturday morning, and we want to get an early start in order 
to reach the diggings, or mines, by noon, that we may have our 
tent pitched and things in general fixed up before night. 
Breakfast over, we were soon plodding our way down the north 
side of the range. Arriving at the bottom we struck a small 
muddy stream. We knew it came from the mines, but we 
could not see them. We concluded to follow up the stream 
until we came to them. After traveling a considerable dis¬ 
tance we came upon them unawares. This we did owing to the 
location of the mines on a second flat just at the base of the 
range. It contained about three acres of ground, in a sort of 
diamond shape. The town of Fox’s at this time was composed 
of two streets—one located on the first flat on a kind of terrace 
and running north and south, while the other on the second or 
lower flat extended east and west to the base of the range. 
South of this street was taken up and worked by miners, while 
the north side was their camping ground. We pitched our 
tent on the north side close to the street. When we had every¬ 
thing put to rights, we decided to inspect the mines and learn 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 43 

how things were going, and if there were any prospects ahead 
for our party. It did not take us long to understand that we 
were very much like the old man’s hog—no room for us. All 
the ground worth anything for mining, besides a great deal that 
wasn’t, had been taken, but even this was very limited at best. 

The only paying claim there was owned by Mr. Fox, the 
discoverer of the gold. This claim was located at the mouth of 
a small mountain stream, just where it entered the flat at the 
southeast corner of the street running east and west. Mr. Fox 
also kept a saloon on the first or upper flat, where it faced the 
street on the lower or second flat. He seemed to be making 
more money out of the saloon than he was out of his gold mine. 
The principal drink was brandy and cider blended, and for a 
drink you paid twenty-five cents. But everything one was com¬ 
pelled to buy was high. Flour was 50 cents per pound; bacon 
75 cents; brown sugar 75 cents; tea 75 cents. When a butcher 
killed a beef the meat was cut into pieces of five to ten pounds 
to suit himself. If ;you wanted a steak he wouldn’t sell it to 
you. You had to either buy one of those “chunks” at 32 cents 
a pound or go without. A working man without meat will 
eat 18 pounds of flour a week, and with meat 11 pounds will 
suffice. So the reader may have a good idea what it took to 
board a man at this mining camp; or, if he were bibulously in¬ 
clined, what his bill at Fox’s bar would amount to per week. 
One of the most vexatious obstacles I saw about this place was 
the very slim chance a man had to go out prospecting. This 
condition was owing to the great height and steepness of the 
range. To ascend the range in a great many places a man 
would be obliged to crawl upon his hands and knees, and from 
the looks of things he would not be entirely safe then. 

When night came on the party, of which I was one, was 
seized with a severe attack of the “blues,” and when we retired 
for the night it was more to ponder over our ill-luck or misfor¬ 
tune than it was to sleep. All the glittering air-castles we had 
built before and since leaving Melbourne had the corner-stones 


44 SOME MFMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

removed and the structures fallen and shattered to the earth. 
But while there is life there is hope. 

One of our party was from the County Kildare, Ireland. 
We called him Kildare. He was an old Australian miner, and 
to use a common phrase, “knew the ropes well.” Instead of 
Kildare going to bed with us, he went to a prominent saloon, 
where he knew he could learn anything new. In this he was 
not disappointed. As it happened a party of the North-of- 
Ireland men (they are always foremost) had been out prospect¬ 
ing and had discovered rich ground on a small mountain stream 
some twenty miles from Fox’s in a northeasterly direction. 
This party becoming short of provisions, had dispatched two 
of their men with a pack-horse to this place for a supply, with 
strict orders to tell no one of the discovery, and above all, not 
to touch nor handle this blended, or blasted, brandy and cider. 
These, orders were entirely too strict for an Irishman. The two 
men, after the majority of the miners had retired to their beds, 
walked into the saloon to buy the provisions (as the saloons here 
in these days kept something to eat as well as drink). The 
quantity they bought attracted the attention of the boys who 
were lounging around waiting for something to turn up. Some 
of them now thought they had found the men they were looking 
for, and gathered about the two men and insisted that they take 
something to drink, and assuring them that they were really 
good friends of theirs, and were quite certain that they formerly 
knew them on such and such a gold field and other blandish¬ 
ments. The two men finally concluded that, as the boys were 
such good friends of theirs, they would risk one drink anyway, 
and no one would be the wiser. So they partook of what they 
were strictly forbidden not to partake, and in doing so, like 
Father Adam, when he ate the forbidden fruit, fell into a trap, 
from which by all his or their lying and ingenuity they could 
not extricate themselves. Not only did these two men lose a 
fortune themselves, but their companions in the discovery also. 
It is a true saying that no man can serve two masters, and it is 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 45 

equally true that strong drink and good sense can not harmo¬ 
niously reign together under the same scalp. The two men, as 
a natural consequence under the pressure and influence of their 
surroundings, became drunk; and like most drunken men got 
rich. They said they knew where there was plenty of gold. 
This of course was all the news the “boys” hanging about them 
wanted to know. When the two became sober they tried to deny 
what they had stated under the influence of brandy and cider 
blended, but it was no use. They were watched closely, so it 
was impossible for them to leave town without their departure 
or direction being known. “Kildare” was one of the “boys,” 
and he came to the tent about two o’clock in the morning and 
told us the whole stoiy, giving us strict orders to say nothing 
about it, as but few were to know it. This news imparted new 
life into our party once more, and we began to build a few more 
castles in the air right then. 

When morning came we arose in a very different spirit from 
that in which we had retired the night before, and everything 
seemed brighter and more cheerful. I took a stroll on the street 
after breakfast to see what was transpiring. I observed that 
there were a great many more miners in town than were visible 
the night before. All seemed to have plenty of money, and by 
the way they were drinking brandy and cider, one would suppose 
they had been deprived of the beverage for some time. Upon 
making inquiry, I was informed that a large portion of them 
worked over the ranges, and the only enjoyment they had was 
coming to town on Sunday and getting drunk. If I had not 
known the country, this would have appeared horrible to me, 
but knowing what the country was so well, I was even astonished 
to learn that the boys could find even enjoyment in getting 
drunk. By the time the sun was disappearing three-fourths of 
the miners were well under the influence of drink, and those that 
were sober seemed to be losing all the fun. Though this was one 
of the most general drinking days I ever saw, I did not see one 
fight, nor hear a boisterous word spoken during the entire day; 


46 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

everything went along quietly and without tumult. I will 
mention one “innocent incident" that befell a Jew during,the 
day. As everyone knows who is familiar with the custom of 
Jewish merchants, they or their religion do not prevent them 
from keeping their stores open on Sunday, and most of them 
follow the custom when permitted to do so. This particular 
Jew had his store open, and a pair of boots hung just outside 
the door for a sign. Toward evening I noticed a crowd of men 
collected in front of the store, and pressed forward to see the 
cause. I was not kept long in suspense. Presently the boys 
began to crowd one another against the door in order to keep the 
Jew inside, while some one could make way with the boots. 
When the proprietor got outside and made the discovery that his 
boots were gone, he became very angry, but the only satisfaction 
he got was a volume of laughter from the boys. 

By morning most of the miners were gone, having taken 
their departure during the night to their respective places of 
habitation. We remained here contrary to our wish until 
Thursday morning, owing to the presence of the two men who 
had come after the provisions. They would not leave, knowing 
that they were “shepherded," and remained in town, as they 
thought, to throw us off the track, and they would be able to 
leave at some time without detection. In this they were mis¬ 
taken, for on Thursday morning between two and three o’clock 
a man came to our tent and told Kildare that the two men had 
just started and had gone by the way of Lake Wakatipu. 
Things now began to get lively about our tent. One prepared 
breakfast, another packed our mining and camp outfit, while 
the other two hunted up the horse in the dark and got him ready 
for the start. In this manner we were soon ready to travel, and 
were on our way by early day-break. We left town very quietly, 
for it behooved us io do so in order to avoid suspicion. Once 
out of town we proceeded very nicely, for our path was along a 
flat all the way to the lake. As we passed along the flat we came 
to a waterfall, which, had it been located in any other country, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 47 

would have been highly prized for its beauty and splendor, but 
in New Zealand it did not amount to anything more than a pearl 
in a swine’s mouth. The only impediment on our way was the 
Shotover river, a stream of considerable size, which came from 
the east or right, and emptied itself in the Cowarra immediately 
on our left. As there was no skiff on the river, we lost much 
time in crossing it. After all, we reached the lake by noon, and 
were then twelve miles distant from Fox’s. Here we found but 
one shepherd’s hut and a few miners’ tents. The hut was kept 
by a Scotchman named Reece. He kept a few sheep on the flat 
from here to Fox’s, and also kept a boarding-house. Being in 
somewhat of a hurry, we took dinner with him, the meal con¬ 
sisting of mutton-chops, bread baked in a Dutch oven, and 
coffee. For this meal we paid a dollar apiece, but considering 
the high price of all commodities of that country we thought 
the shepherd’s bill quite reasonable. During dinner we inquired 
of Mr. Reece in a sly way if he had seen two men and a pack- 
horse pass by, and he replied that he had about two hours’ 
earlier. We now knew we were on the right track and said no 
more, lest he might think there was something up, for everybody 
in the mines was on the lookout for something new, and it was 
to our interest, of course, not to expose the secret. 

After dinner, and allowing our horse time to finish his feed, 
I strolled about the place in search for most anything that might 
present itself to view. Of the lake at this place comparatively 
little could be seen, owing to its narrowness, and the great height 
of the mountains on either side. While walking about the place 
I espied a fisherman with a number of the largest eels I had ever 
seen, which he had caught in the lake. Some of them, I was 
told, weighed 45 pounds. As I contemplated my surroundings 
I asked myself the question, how in the world did Mr. Reece live 
here before the discovery of gold, for his neighbors were cer¬ 
tainly few and far between. The nearest was sixty miles per¬ 
haps, with nothing else to be seen during the day but a few 
sheep and a few sea-gulls flying about the lake, and nothing 


i 


48 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


to break the stillness of the night save the cries of the moapoke 
and kiwi, or moria-hen, as it is more commonly known. But 
this is not all. When Mr. Reece wanted to “see out” he was 
obliged to ascend to the top of Ben Lomand, an elevation of 
5,747 feet. His situation came so near that of Robinson Crusoe 
that I came to the conclusion that he ought to have the honor 
of second place. 

When we found a suitable opportunity we made another 
start. The mines lay now in an easterly direction, and about 
twenty-five miles distant; about the same as they were at Fox’s. 
We are now at the foot of Ben Lomand, and as we can not very 
well avoid crossing the mountains, we prepare to take matters 
coolly. When within a short distance of the top we came across 
a spring and a small terrace, just large enough to tether a horse, 
and as it was getting late, we concluded to camp for the night. 
When I got the horse teidiered and cared for I walked up to the 
summit or rather top of a leading spur of the mountain to take 
a view of things from there. Not a sound from anything living 
was to be heard. The shades of evening were fast gathering and 
daylight would soon be shut off for that day. The sun was 
throwing his last rays for the day upon the tops of those snow¬ 
capped and glacier mountains, as I surveyed the wild, grand 
scenery all about me. Some of the mountain ranges before my 
eyes I learned afterwards to call by their names and heights. 
One of the most notable in going up the lake was the Devil’s 
Staircase. This is a wild range of rocky terraces; the Remark- 
ables, snow-clad peaks, culminating in the double cone 7,600 
feet high; the Humboldt Range, 8,100 feet at its highest point; 
Mount Crichton, 6,185 feet; Mount Larkin, 7,432 feet; the 
Glacier Summits of Mount Earnshaw, the king of the landscape, 
9,000 feet. These are only a few of the many grand mountains 
that can be seen along this lake and in its vicinity. By extend¬ 
ing the view northward one glacier mountain may be seen in the 
distance, one after another, each trying to outdo the other in 
points of wonder and grandeur, Taking this whole scenery into 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 49 


consideration, I have never yet to my mind seen a standard of 
comparison. It may have an equal somewhere on the globe, but 
I venture to assert that it has but few superiors. This lake is 
destined to become the Mecca of the Australian Colonies. I 
was so enraptured with the scenery before me that I came very 
near forgetting that the boys were shouting for me to come to 
supper. 

As we were determined not to let those men get too far 
ahead of us, we retired early that we might rest well and be 
ready for an early start in the morning. We were up early 
next morning, and all preliminaries were speedly arranged, 
when we were soon wending our way through a low, prickly 
shrub that grew thick on the top of the range. Among this 
shrub I noticed the “whin-hush” and I was prompted to stop 
and examine it, for it was the first time I had seen this bush 
growing outside of Ireland. We had but scarcely got in the way 
of traveling, however, until we came upon the two men eating 
their breakfast. Kildare knew them. When they saw us they 
put on a rather sheepish look, and we, of course, assumed an air 
of innocence, and proceeded on down the range without accost* 
ing them or passing the usual civilities of the day. 

At the foot of the range was a small stream, the opposite 
bank of which was high and almost perpendicular. A path was 
cut in the reef right oblique. The reef was of a slaty or soap¬ 
stone formation, and I saw at a glance that there would be 
danger in attempting to take the horse up it, so I wanted, if 
possible, to get out of the job. I asked Kildare to lead the 
horse, but he refused to have anything to do with him. 

“Well,” said I, “you cross the stream and catch him as I 
send him over, and hold him till I get there.” 

So Kildare crossed over and caught the horse. I had now 
the advantage of Kildare. I refused to cross myself, and this 
rather forced him tc lead the horse up the bank. When he saw 
he could not well help himself he reluctantly took the horse and 
started. I stood looking on, for I thought if Kildare and the 


50 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE; OR 

horse reached the top in safety it would be almost a miracle. 
They ascended very nicely, however, for a distance of eighty or 
ninety feet, when Kildare slipped and fell in the path. This 
caused the horse to stop. When Kildare regained his feet he 
endeavored to make the horse make another start, but this the 
animal postively refused to do. Kildare snapped the halter in 
his face; the horse stepped back, and as he did so got one foot 
out of the path. This threw him down, when horse and pack- 
saddle came rolling over and over down the steep bank until they 
reached the bank of the stream. Here, owing to some rocks, 
the horse had eight or ten feet to fall to the water, but as luck 
would have it, a reef crossed the stream a few feet above, and 
the water falling over it had worn a hole in it, and into this 
dropped horse, pack-saddle, tea, coffee, sugar, flour and salt. 
When I saw the horse make that drop I would have sold my in¬ 
terest in him very cheap. I ran to the place where he had 
fallen as quickly as possible and was astonished to see him rise 
to his feet. The flour and pack-saddle were moving down 
stream. I managed to get them out, and by this time the boys 
came up and with their assistance succeeded in getting the horse 
out, strange to say, without a scratch, but the poor beast expe¬ 
rienced a violent shaking up, and stood shaking like a leaf for 
some time. We now set to work spreading the things out to 
dry. We had just got through with this job when a general rush 
set in, and one squad of miners after another passed us by as 
much excited as if they were going to a fire. 

As we were first on the track, we could not well stand to be 
headed off in this manner, and hurriedly packed up everything— 
wet and dry—and carried them to the top of the bank, just 
what we should have done in the first place; but the great 
trouble with man is that he never gets through learning. It is 
one of the truest sayings that “man is curiously and wonderfully 
made." This becomes the more apparent when we consider 
the smallness of his head, and yet fully one-half of that appears 
to be a vacuum. This is demonstrated by the fact that it mat- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 51 


ters not how much a man may know, there is still ample room in 
his head for more. So that another old saying of “big head and 
little wit” is simply equivalent to big head and more vacuum. 

We had some trouble in getting the horse up the bank 
again, even without the saddle; but he took good care not to 
throw himself down again. As soon as we got to the top of the 
bank with him he was saddled as fast as four of us could do it, 
for things were becoming exciting again. We were soon off and 
had traveled but a short distance until another stream confronted 
us, and, to all appearances, as difficult to cross as the one just 
behind us. This was rather perplexing at this time, but there 
appeared no way to get around it. I wanted Kildare to try 
the horse again, but his former experience, still vividly in his 
mind, brought his prompt and stern refusal. While he and I 
were arguing the question as to which should lead the horse 
across the stream, an old stoop-shouldered man who happened 
by and hearing our conversation, said if we had no objection he 
would lead the horse across for us. As the old fellow looked like 
one who had passed through many hardships in his time, and 
having the appearance of being one hard to kill, I surrendered 
the halter to him with the greatest of pleasure, I can assure you. 

In the Australian Colonies there are three classes of 
tramps—men well-known to the boys. The first they designate 
as “Ragfoot”; second, “Sundowner,” and third, “A man from 
Tother side.” The first is a man who keeps one of his feet 
wrapped in a rag or cloth and never pretends to work. He 
makes it a point to reach a station late in the evening, and offers 
to show the inmates his foot, but none of them want to see it 
particularly, and as it is getting late, and night is close at hand, 
and iffs a long way to the next station, he begs for something 
to eat and the privilege of sleeping in the woodshed for the night. 
This is generally granted him. The second is a man who also 
makes no pretension towards work, but tramps the country over 
and lives solely upon charity. He makes it a point also to reach 
a station at sundown and hence the name. If he should by 


52 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


miscalculation arrive in the vicinity of a station too soon—that 
is, before sundown—-he will perch himself on a fence and whistle 
until he sees the last rays of Old Sol fade in the western horizon. 
Then he makes for the station and tells some thrilling story 
about getting lost in the “bush” and not having anything to eat 
since morning. He, too, begs for something to eat and the 
privilege of sleeping in the woolshade. Some of these kind- 
hearted ranch or station men, as they are called, are much 
pestered by these two classes of mendicants. The third, or “man 
from ’tother side,” is quite a different individual, as he will both 
work and drink like a fish. His greatest fault is his acute pen¬ 
chant for everything loose or movable. Mother side is known 
as Vandieman’s Land, and a man telling another that he came 
from the ’tother side is a mild way of letting him know that he 
is a transport. This old gentleman that so kindly consented to 
lead our horse I put him down as belonging to this class; still 
his kindness to us proved that “he was a man for a’ that.” 

We made the crossing all right, but I was fearful all the 
time lest our horse would make a misstep and fall upon our 
benefactor. But luck was on our side in this matter at least. 
When we had reached the top of the opposite bank of the stream 
we found a level piece of country which furnished good pasture, 
and as it was getting late, we again camped for the night. By 
this time the road becoming so very rough and mountainous as 
to almost prevent the horse from traveling, we decided to leave 
him here in charge of my partner while three of us proceeded on 
foot to the mines. 

With the dawn of morning we were so anxious to be off that 
we scarcely took time to eat breakfast. Kildare and his part¬ 
ner’s swag consisted of mining tools, blankets, clothing and tent, 
while mine consisted cf flour and cooking utensils, in all weigh¬ 
ing close to forty pounds—-rather the heavier load of the three— 
but it happened that I had the advantage over them before night, 
if any such could be claimed. Kildare was the first ready to 
start, and he was in sc much of a hurry that he couldn’t wait 


t 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 53 

on his partner and myself, but telling ns that he would walk 
slowly and that we could overtake him. I was the next man 
to start, and as I did not want Kildare too far ahead of men on 
the road, I struck out, leaving the other fellow to follow when 
ready. Here we were, not two of us starting or traveling to¬ 
gether. Our camp was at the foot and north of a high, steep 
range of mountains that extended east and west. The mines 
lay to the east of us, but it appeared necessary to climb this lead¬ 
ing range in order tc reach them. Casting my eyes towards 
the range, I saw several men climbing up on a narrow ridge, or 
backbone of the mountain. I concluded that was the way for 
me to take, and I followed in their wake. Owing to the weight 
of my swag, I experienced some difficulty in making the ascent, 
but nevertheless I stuck to the task, thinking, of course, that 
Kildare was ahead of me. When I reached the summit I could 
see neither Kildare nor his partner. It became evident to me 
by this time that neither of them had taken the range where 
I had, but had walked along its base with the intention ol 
making the ascent at a more favorable place. To make matters 
worse, on looking down upon our camping place I saw that the 
fire we had made to cook breakfast with had set fire to the long 
grass and would very probably consume our tent and provisions 
unless my partner, whom we had left in camp, would exert 
himself a little more than he was in the habit of doing. Not 
knowing the probable result of this fire, it caused me consid¬ 
erable uneasiness, but being powerless to render any assistance, 
I resumed my journey. 

As I passed along this high and almost isolated range I was 
afforded another fine view of the surrounding country. All the 
land, so far as agriculture was concerned, that the eye was 
capable of reaching, the taxes would have to be extremely light 
if a man would take it as a gift and be bound for the tax. All 
the land lying to the south as far as could be seen was painfully 
rough and irregular, the surface being covered with water-worn 
bowlders of all sizes blended with ferns and wholly incapable 


54 


SdME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


of furnishing support for animal life of any description. Of 
course the kiwi or maori-hen and the kaka or brown parrot were 
just in their element. Immediately to the north stood a snow¬ 
capped mountain, and in fact all the mountains standing in 
that direction, so far as could be seen, were capped with snow. 
This of course caused rarified atmosphere, and it was so much 
so that I found no difficulty in keeping off the flies. Taking a 
parting look at my surroundings, I thought to myself it was no 
wonder the boys said that this was the last country that God 
made, for it seemed as natural for a man to think so as it was 
for Old Gideon to think that the earth stood still and the sun 
moved around. 

I traveled but a few miles along this range until I came to 
a stream known as Stony creek, but such a creek in Colorado 
would be called a canyon. It seemed to be the father of all 
creeks we had yet met with, and appeared to rise in the neigh¬ 
borhood of the snowy mountains a considerable distance to the 
north, and throughout the ages its waters had cut or worn its 
way through this narrow range until it had not only reached the 
bed-rock, but had cut its way to a considerable depth into it 
and left its banks on either side several hundred feet high and 
almost perpendicular. It formed a junction at the southeast 
corner or angle of this range with a mountain stream that 
came in directly from the east. On this stream, some two miles 
away, the mines were located. Of all the dangerous places that 
I ever traveled this excelled them all. Here I found myself with 
the creek to my left, front and right, and to get to it was next to 
impossible. The best way, however, seemed to be in front, but 
every step taken, even in that direction, was beset with danger. 
My first move was along a beaten path leading down the south¬ 
east angle to about midway, when it angled and ran left oblique 
along the face of the bank, with a downward tendency for about 
fifty yards, when it angled again and made a straight shoot for 
the creek. From this angle to the creek was where the greatest 
danger laid, and when I had reached the place I found out that 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 55 

forty pounds of swag was a little too much of a necklace in such 
a place, and threw off my load with the idea of making two out 
of it and taking one (kwn to the creek at a time. But I soon 
discovered that this would not work, for the ground was so 
steep that it required one hand to hold on to it while the other 
hand had enough to do to hold the swag. So here I was in a most 
terrible plight, for it was very hard to hold on and extremely 
bad policy to let go. 

I didn’t lay long in this position until I put on my studying 
cap. I reviewed all the disappointments and hardships I had 
passed through since landing on the Island, but hope again 
disappears, and, as for luck, I thought I had the worst possible. 
Under this load or impression I became so weak and nervous 
that it was as much as I could possibly do to hold on to the 
ground. By the time I had everything pictured in their dark¬ 
est colorings, down came three men to where I was lying. They, 
too, found a stopping place and stepped from the path to the 
opposite side from me. When one of them became aware of 
the danger he was in he was seized with a nervous spell or fit 
and fell to the ground. Had it not been for the presence of 
mind of one of his party in placing a long-handled shovel to 
his feet he would most certainly have rolled down the bank and 
most likely lost his life. While this was going on down came 
three or four more men, but before they reach us they became 
scared and threw down their swags, but these no sooner struck 
the ground than away they went, bounding over the rocks and 
into the creek below, with skillets and tin-buckets making a 
loud clatter. Their owners cursed the country as far back as 
the days of Captain Cook. The men on the opposite side of the 
creek, who had passed through the same ordeal, when they saw 
their swags, skillets, tin-buckets, etc., bounding over the rocks, 
raised a cheer, and shouted to us in a joking way to “hold on.” 
The more they cheered the more the owners of the lost property 
cursed. Things were getting quite exciting about this time. I 
felt so much amused that I found myself laughing, a thing a 


56 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 


few moments before T had no idea of doing. I now saw that, 
instead of having the worst luck of all the men, I was still more 
fortunate than my decidedly luckless neighbors, and I com¬ 
menced to gain strength right away. 

There has been a great deal written about the “pleasures 
of hope,” but my experience has been that when a man gets 
into a fix of this kind it amounts to but very little to him. 
The only consolation there appears left for him is in seeing his 
fellow man in the same predicament, and should he be a little 
deeper “in the hole” than the other, the consolation is the greater 
to the more fortunate. This, I believe, exceeds the pleasure of 
hope in such cases as far as day exceedeth night. How this 
should be the case I will not here try to explain, but it is man’s 
nature all the same. Hope, then, after all its praises are sung, 
can not be said to be a true friend of man. The fact is that 
it will lead him into a trap and then leave him or recede from 
him as the tide recedes from the seashore, and as the tide returns 
again, with all the Dramble that may come within its grasp, so 
will hope return to man in better days, loaded with a few more 
castles in the air. 

Having now regained a little more strength, I worked my 
way on my hip, inch by inch, down to the creek. Crossing the 
stream I came to a group of men who were discussing the ques¬ 
tion whether to turn back or go on to the mines. A majority of 
them seemed inclined to retrace their steps were they not 
ashamed to do so. I moved aside a short distance and threw off 
my swag, and went about preparing myself something to eat, 
with the hope of rest and my dinner giving me strength for the 
journey before me. While preparing my meal I became 
greatly amused at the boys on the other side of the creek, for 
they were still coming down the bank in numbers, while those 
on this side kept cheering them lustily whenever they would get 
into a tight place. This, of course, was calculated to make the 
latter angry, and they seemed to receive solace in their discom¬ 
fiture by cursing the country at large. Every man on this side 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 57 

of the creek cheered, even though he knew that with the fall of 
a heavy shower of rain, wetting the banks not not a soul of us 
could get out of here until they dried up, if that should be a 
week. 

Looking over at the boys,coming down the bank, I thought 
of what a grand scene this would make for a picture. The 
bank was high, steep and blended with bowlders and ferns, with 
here and there a small prickly shrub. Next along a beaten path 
that led obliquely across the face of the bank in a zigzag form, 
miners could be seen with their blankets about their necks, 
collar fashion, or military style, giving them a most motly ap¬ 
pearance. When they get within a short distance of the creek 
some lie down, while others throw down their swags, which, in 
almost every instance, go bounding over the rocks into the creek 
below. With the creek running on three sides, and this snow¬ 
capped mountain, high above all, for a background, and which 
a short time ago was upon my left, but now on my right, and, 
as if were, peeping over the right shoulder of this bank, as 
much as to say, "Boys, you are in a pickle; what are you going 
to do about it and how are you going to get out ?” 

This closed my observation of what I have always con¬ 
sidered to be the best, or one of the best, subjects for the artist’s 
picture I ever saw. 

Reaction sets in again, caused by the return of two miners 
just from the mines. One of them had a number of cuts in his 
face from which the blood was flowing freely. It was evident 
that the fellow had made a misstep somewhere. The boys 
gathered about him to hear the news in pretty much the same 
way that boys would gather about a man playing the Irish bag¬ 
pipe. The first question asked was, "how the place looked for 
gold/’ They reported the prospect good, but a miner with 
small means could not stand it long there, as flour was $1.50 
per pound. The next question was,"how was the road from here 
to there.” The one with the bleeding face looked over the bank 
wistfully, and said: "Boys, it is h—1 over there.” His words 


58 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

did not scare me very much, as I had already arrived at the 
conclusion that it was h—1 all around. It was discouraging 
news to all of us, and caused many o'f the boys to droop their 
heads, while a few showed signs of turning back. I felt a little 
shaky myself, but nor enough to induce me to turn back, for I 
had started for the mines and I was going to get there or get 
hurt. 

While I was packing my traps to start again a man with 
a bull-dog started ap the bank. I put him down for a Yorkshire 
man, for the boys say that a bull-dog is a Yorkshir man’s 
“coat of arms.” I contemplated the same ascent, I watched 
the dog, or rather the man and dog, as they proceeded with a 
good deal of interest. They* went along very nicely until they 
encountered a large smooth rock almost standing on edge about 
fifty feet up that was hard to get over, and, what was still worse, 
there was no way to get around it. At this point the fellow 
slipped and fell, and for a moment I made sure that he would 
come rolling down. But luck was with him, and he regained 
his feet and seemed to plant his pedals firmly right there. The 
dog was close by, stretched out on the rock, and holding on for 
dear life. Every time he sought to renew his hold I could hear 
the sound of his toe-nails scraping the rock very distinctly. It 
looked as though the man held on better than the dog. When 
once they had cleared this rock, they reached the summit all 
right without further trouble. It was now my turn, and as 
my swag, or bundle, was composed of flour, I had divided it 
into two parts, with one part resting between my shoulders, and 
the other on my bosom, in order to guard against falling. I 
took the bank upon all fours at the start. That part of the swag 
that was in front proved a great annoyance, as when my head 
was down it swung forward and cut off my view, so I could 
scarcely see which way I was going. To overcome this I was 
obliged to hold up my head, a thing I found hard to do with 
such a “necklace.” This position, doubtless, gave me a very 
ridiculous appearance, but I was more interested in my safety 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 59 


than I was in my looks. I gained the summit without accident, 
and, taking a short rest and a general view of the surrounding 
country, my conclusion was, that if this part of the country was 
good for anything, it was for a man doing penance. I con¬ 
tinued on my way. I had proceeded but a short distance until 
another obstacle in the shape of a deep ravine presented itself. 
I had successfully passed a few of them and was still pressed 
with the determination to continue and persevere on until I 
should gain the strea m on which the mines were located, it being 
now but a short distance to my right. When I lowered myself 
into the stream I saw that I was mislead, for I found it com¬ 
pletely rock-bound on both sides, and that I stood but a slim 
chance to get out of it again. But on to the mines, was my 
motto, and I saw no better way to get to them than to follow up¬ 
stream, which I proceeded to do, but not without more or less 
trouble, at one time wading in water over my boot-tops and 
again climbing over bowlders with the water running over them. 
I continued on in this way for some distance, when finally the 
high wall of rocks to my left abruptly terminated. Here I 
found a small flat that had probably been inundated every high 
water for ages. On this flat I discovered a few miners and a 
tent. I walked up to a terrace and threw my swag to the 
ground, and after a very hurried survey found myself once 
more in a very deplorable condition. My boots were filled with 
snow water, and I was minus a coat, blanket or even a tent to 
sleep in. The last gleam of the sun was disappearing behind 
the mountain crests, and a cold, chilly air was settling about me, 
and I was at a loss to know where to lie down to sleep for the 
night, for no one knew me and I knew no one in all that wild 
land. To lie down on the cold chilly ground without any cov¬ 
ering, and my clothing wet at that, I was well aware that it 
would never do; in fact, the very idea of it made me shudder. 

As a rule miners are kind and generous-hearted, but they 
have been fooled so often by wolves in sheep’s clothing that they 
have become accustomed to regard strangers with suspicion, and 


60 


SOME MEMORIES OE A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


very often strangers do not lose anything by looking upon some 
miners in the same light. This fact, as is quite natural, places 
a stranger in a bad shape, especially if he has anything to lose, 
it matters not how good his intentions may be. When I was 
almost ready to despair of finding a place to sleep, two men in 
a tent that stood a short distance in front of me before retiring 
began to sing a hymn. This was a very unusual thing for 
miners, and it proved to be such a novelty that the boys standing 
around commenced to snicker and laugh, such was the effect of 
hearing hymns sung in a country like this. I rather liked to 
listen to the hymns as sung by these miners, for they 
carried me back to times gone by. Still I kind of sided with the 
boys for it seemed to me also to be as hard to find God in a 
country like this as :i would at a camp-meeting. The singing 
of this hymn proved a providential thing to me, however, and 
I shall always so regard it. A thought very forcibly struck 
me that the two men who sang the hymn would be just the 
ones for me to strike'for a night's lodging, which, should I be 
granted the privilege of sleeping under the shadow of their 
10x12 till morning, I could count upon being safe until that 
time at least. So when the stanzas of the hymn had been 
finished, I approached their tent door. I found two men sitting 
on their blankets ready to “turn in" for the night. I explained 
my situation, and they said that so far as they were concerned 
I could share their tent with them for the night; but as there 
was a third man, and he was knocking about somewhere, when 
he returned if it was satisfactory to him, everything would be 
all right. It is not necessary for me to tell how thankful I 
was to obtain the consent of the third man also, upon his return 
to the tent, to “bunk" with this party. I never slept better 
or more soundly in my life. The only thing that broke the 
stillness of the night with me was the moapoke bird. It's name 
it called very distinctly, and it was the only time I ever heard 
it call, yet I often heard the boys speak of it doing so. This 
district being wild, the moapoke seemed to have made its home 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 61 

here, and its habits I judge to be similar to the owl of onr own 
country. 

Next morning being the Sabbath, we were in no hurry to 
rise, remaining in bed until eight o’clock, it being that time 
apparently before the sun found us out. When I arose and 
w r alked out I looked all around for Kildare, for I felt if he was 
not on hands by this time something was wrong sure. I 
failed to see him, however, and turned my attention to a high, 
rocky bluff that shot up into the air to the west. I knew that 
he would either have to come down this bluff or come up the 
mountain stream as I did. Presently I saw a man coming down 
the bluff pretty much in the fashion of a bear descending a 
tree or pole, and soon I was able to discover that it was 
Kildare. I felt elated at his coming, for at that 
particular time I would gladly have hailed a dog that I was 
acquainted with. I waited patiently for Kildare’s arrival, and 
when we exchanged greetings the first words he directed to me 
was the query, “How in the h—1 did you get here?” I told him 
my route here and the ordeal I had passed through the evening 
before, and he replied that this was one h—1 of a country, and 
I replied that he was putting it rather mild. He said that his 
partner had given up the chase and was back at Stony creek, and 
that he had said that he would not cross it for all the 
gold he could carry. This left us in a bad shape, as he 
had the tent, blankets and mining tools. Kildare said the 
only thing for us to do was to sell 'our stock of flour 
and return to Lake Wakatipu, for we could do no good here 
now, the way we were situated. I was more than half of the 
same opinion myself; and after giving the matter serious 
thought, I agreed with Kildare and we made preparation for the 
return to the lake. We sold our flour readily for $1.25 per 
pound, it being the Sabbath day and disliking to carry it 
around. 

While we were disposing of our stock of provisions I en¬ 
gaged myself to some extent in taking a bird’s-eye view of the 


62 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

country about me. Where we were now was almost fenced in by 
mountain ranges, all sloping towards this stream and forming 
a sort of basin. The range south of us was covered with large, 
loose bowlders/ as thick as they could lay, and in some 
places piled up two or three deep, and wherever a fern could 
find enough soil among them to give it life it was growing, as 
if to give some botanical cheer to the dreary and rock-covered 
waste. The range to the north was still higher, reaching the 
altitude of perpetual snow. From the stream this range rose 
in a succession of terraces, each showing a rocky bed front. 
From the top of these terraces to the summit of the range 
the ground was very irregular and thickly covered in places with 
a burnt shrub, making one feel at a loss to know what set it 
on fire, as we thought that we were among the first white men 
that ever visited that section of the globe. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 63 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE LONG-SOUGHT-FOR GOLD NOT YET IN SIGHT. 

So far as gold was concerned we had not yet seen it in the 
mines, and up to the present time it was “mighty unsartin’ in 
the future as, owing to the irregularity of the ground, there 
was no lead. We learned, however, that it had been found 
mostly in small deposits in the crevices of the reef, along the 
stream, or in the bed-rock. But the gold-bearing crevices were 
oftener found by accident than by good judgment on the part 
of the prospector, and a man stood a good chance of spending 
more than he could make in hunting or finding one of them, 
should he accidentally do so. Still there was considerable gold 
taken from this locality, and I shall always regard it as a mistake 
on my part in leaving the place when I did. But our hopes 
are once more cast to the ground, and our consolation is that 
we have “seen the elephant,” or the place where the supposed 
gold mine was located, and escaped being hurt. We had made 
preparation to start next day on our return to Lake Wakatipu, 
and as we were on the way we passed through a heavy snow¬ 
storm. On our way we were joined by a large number of miners 
who were on their return. When they reached Stony creek 
they refused to cross it. This creek was a stumbling block to 
three-fourths of the miners that reached it. When we had ar- 


64 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


rived at Lake Wakatipu, though we were but a few days from 
it* the place had undergone a change. The boys who were 
afraid to climb the adjacent ranges, contented themselves in 
laying out a town, and taking up lots for the purpose of specu¬ 
lation. Some of them advised me to take up some lots, but 
I had not, as yet, become sufficiently impressed with the country 
as to invest money in its real estate. 

We again separated. Kildare and his partner took one road 
while my partner and myself chose another. I will say right 
here for fear that I may overlook the matter that I never had 
the pleasure of seeing them again. My partner and I returned 
to Fox’s. Here I bought a one-eighth share in a sluicing claim 
for two hundred dollars. I worked in it for three months, and 
only made my board. Hearing of better prospects at the 
Dunstan, I went there, not receiving one cent for my share in 
the claim. At this time my partner left for Melbourne, and 
while at Dunedin a regiment of volunteers was being made 
ready to start for the North Island to fight the Maoris. He 
joined the regiment and served with it several years. The next 
place I saw him was in Melbourne about five years afterward. 

Arriving at the Dunstan, I found nothing to do there, but 
learned that there was good mining on the Teviot Flat, 12 miles 
south. Once more ] packed my swag and made off for the 
Teviot. Arriving there I was greeted with the familiar story— 
mining as dull as ever. Mining at this point was mainly con¬ 
fined to the river banks, and, owing to the high water then 
prevailing, but little work in that direction could be per¬ 
formed. 

Here I fell in with two Scotchmen whom I knew in 
Victoria. They told me that they had heard of several parties 
who were doing well on a mountain stream that lay immedi¬ 
ately west of Mount Banger, and if I would go along with them 
they would go over and work until the river receded. Not want¬ 
ing to lay around idle, I accepted their proposition. Mount 
Banger is west of the Molyneux river, and is said to be 6,000 


FIVE YEAES ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 65 

feet above sea level, which, in this region, is in the altitude of 
perpetual snow. 'Everything arranged for the trip, the Scotch¬ 
men and myself made an early start the next morning, leaving 
another man to take care of the tents. We only provided our¬ 
selves with two days’ provisions, with the understanding should 
we strike anything that paid, one of us should return for a 
fresh supply. 

At the base of the mountain, and for some distance up, I 
observed a considerable quantity of sweet-anis growing sponta¬ 
neously. By the time we had reached the summit it was noon; 
but as the mines were immediately back of the mountain we 
concluded to forego eating until we had reached there. As we 
reached this mountain stream, where, according to all accounts, 
the gold was to be had for the mere picking up, we pitched our 
tent the best we could owing to the scarcity of timber or scrap- 
wood. This done we took a stroll down stream. We found 
several parties on the hunt of the shining gold, like ourselves, 
but none of them appeared to be encumbered with it. Our 
inquiries brought only the same old story that the gold to be 
found was taken from the crevices of the rocks, and a man, 
using his best judgment, could scarcely make a living. We took 
our own view of the outlook, and came to about the same con¬ 
clusion. However, we put in the next day at prospecting. The 
following day found us with pick and shovel in hand. We 
traveled up and down the stream all day, but found nothing to 
pay us for our labor. We then made up our minds to go back 
to the Molyneux the following morning. Our supply of flour 
by this time was growing short, we having only about two 
pounds left. Knowing that we could reach the river by noon, 
the scarcity of this article alarmed us but little. Once more on 
the road, we had traveled but a short distance when we were 
overtaken by a fierce snow-storm, or rather a blizzard, that came 
from the west. Had we known the severity of a storm like this, 
we would have turned back; but, ignorant of the consequences, 
we still plodded on. By the time we had gained the top of the 


66 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

mountain the snow was being so carried by the wind that we 
could scarcely see one another a few feet apart, and at times not 
daring to open our mouths for fear of losing our breath. We 
proceeded along the mountain until we had concluded that we 
had gone far enough. Here we found a large rock, when one 
of our party said let us go to the leeside of the rock and consider 
what is best to be done, but when we got there we were rather 
surprised to find that there was no leeside to it, for we found it 
all weather. The wind was driving the snow around the rock 
at a fearful rate, and the snow being almost of the fineness of 
flour, we were afraid to open our mouths for fear of being 
suffocated, and we were rather compelled to beat a hasty retreat 
in order to avoid the danger. In turning one of the Scotchmen 
fell, and this caused me to laugh at all hazards and he to get 
angry. “Here you are,” said he, “laughing, and you don’t know 
but what you will he dead before morning.” I said nothing 
in reply, but as far as dying was concerned I felt not the least 
bit of alarm. Things were looking dangerous just now as we 
had scarcely any idea of our whereabouts. After a few minutes’ 
consultation we decided to leave the summit, or rather the top 
of the mountain, and make for the Molyneux. When but a 
short distance on the way, or descent, one of the Scotchmen 
proposed camping for the night. To this I protested, but he 
stuck to it that it would be one of the best things to do, while 
I was equally posith e that it would prove to be one of the worst 
things we could possibly do. He finally won the other Scotch¬ 
man to his way of thinking, and I then found that I had the two 
to contend with. I continued to argue the matter with them, 
at the same taking long steps towards the Molyneux, by this my 
idea being to get them down off the mountain as soon as possible. 
We were getting along very nicely when the one who had first 
proposed camping came to a large shelving rock. “Here,” said 
he, throwing his blanket off, “I am going to camp for the night.” 
The other fellow threw his blanket off also. 

The storm at this time gave no appearance of abating, and 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 67 


the wind was driving the snow about us at a hurricane rate. 
We now began to argue the wisdom of camping in such a place 
again, and I held to the opinion that if we kept on traveling on 
our course in a short time we would be beyond the snow line. 
But a man who tries to convince two Scotchmen that their ideas 
are wrong has his hands full. When I saw that all my argu¬ 
ments and pleadings were in vain, I started to continue the 
journey myself. When they saw that I was bound to go on, 
they took hold of me and took the blankets off my shoulder, 
declaring that I should not leave them. I had previously re¬ 
fused to throw off my blankets, and I now saw the determined 
disposition of the men and for the first time realized my great 
danger; for there had been more men perished in snow-storms 
on this mountain than perhaps had lost their lives in this way 
on all the other mountains in New Zealand combined. Know¬ 
ing this to be true, I shuddered at the very idea of lying down 
in the snow. The men turned to me and said that “I was as 
contrary a man as they had ever seen,” because I wouldn’t listen 
to anything they would say. But seeing that they could not 
make any impression upon me with any argument they could 
produce, they concluded to strike me with something a little more 
sympathetic. So they pleaded and begged of me so hard not to 
leave them that I finally decided to remain with them, even at 
the risk of my own life. What seemed to frighten these men 
most was the fate a short time before of an Irishman, who was 
superintendent of police, and whom we all knew because of the 
numerous medals he displayed so conspicuously. These medals 
were, no doubt, well earned by him on the battlefields of the 
Crimean and in India. While this policeman and a store¬ 
keeper were coming down Mt. Ida (which would be in sight on 
a clear day) they got caught, like us, in one of those fierce 
snow-storms, and in coming to where the road forked a dispute 
arose between them as to which was the right road to take. 
The policeman said this was the right road, while the store¬ 
keeper contended that the other was the right one. Not being 


68 SOME MEMORIES OF ^MINER’S LIFE, OR 

able to agree they parted, but not to meet again, in this world 
at least. It turned out the storekeeper was right, and when he 
arrived in camp told his story to his companions, who, when 
the storm had abated the following morning, dispatched some 
of their number in search of the policeman, whom they found 
lying dead under a shelving rock (just such a rock as we were 
going to camp under) and his horse feeding some distance off. 
Thus what the bullets of many battlefields could not, or did not, 
do. Jack Frost accomplished on this wild New Zealand moun¬ 
tain. I pointed this fact out to my companions, and the great 
danger there was in lying under the rock or in lying down at all. 
But they held to the idea that there was more danger in 
separating than in anything else, and there we stood. 

It was now about four o’clock in the evening, but, owing to the 
raging storm, it appeared to be much later, and as we had noth¬ 
ing to cook or eat, the only thing left for us to do was to make 
our bed under the rock and lie down. To get a dry place was 
rather out of the question, for the snow was melting a little on 
the rock and the water was dripping. We arranged our beds 
the best we could, however, and, as we had often done before, 
took our wet boots for pillows. But we never closed our eyes 
in sleep during that night. The rats had general engagements 
during the night over the two pounds of flour we had left in the 
sack. I was rather astonished at the presence of the rodents, 
as I thought they would have become homesick and left such a 
country as this. But perhaps they were like some people—the 
reason they stay in some countries is they do not know any 
better. 

When morning came we made the discovery that we had 
traveled some four miles out of our way, and that we were eight 
miles, as near as we could judge, from our tent. But what vexed 
me most was the now plain fact presenting itself that if we 
had walked a half hour longer the evening before we would have 
been entirely out of the snow. This was nothing more than 
what I fully expected for I had noticed that snow in New 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 69 

Zealand very seldom reached the valleys, and when it did by ten 
o’clock in the morning it would have disappeared. 

We reached our tent about noon, and it is needless to say 
that our appetites were all right for dinner. The Scotchmen 
started in a few days on another wild goose chase to what is 
known as the North Island. They wanted me to accompany 
them, but I had now come to the conclusion to stop running 
after large fortunes and settle down to smaller ones. 


70 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER V. 

SOME OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE MOA-BIRD, THE KIWI AND 
OTHER BIRDS AND ANIMALS OF THE COUNTRY. 

I hunted up another partner and we began to prospect 

along the banks of the Molyneux. While thus engaged 

we came to a small gully that extended a short dis¬ 
tance into the adjoining flat. We followed it up in 
the hope of finding paying gold. While in the act of 
stripping off some boggy substance that had accumulated 
by the decomposition of vegetable matter my pick struck into 
what I first supposed to be the skull of some animal; but upon 
a closer inspection I discovered that it was the skull of the 
celebrated “moa-bird.” I threw the pick down lest I should 
do any further harm, and took a shovel and stripped off the bog 
very carefully, and to my great satisfaction I uncovered an 
almost perfect skeleton of this bird. It had been so well pre¬ 
served in this bog that the skin or scales upon the leg was still 

adhering to it and looked as natural as though only buried but 
a few months. I smoothed and leveled a piece of ground and 
took the thigh-bone, leg, foot and toes and placed them in their 
proper place, so that I might be able to form some idea of the 
magnitude of this bird when it was alive. When I had care¬ 
fully examined the bones, the only conclusion that I could 
come to in comparing them to other animals was those of the 


FIVE YEARS OFT THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 71 


giraffe, and that if the giraffe was a bird he would have been a 
very common one in those days. The bone of the foot was from 
four to five inches long, about three inches wide and apparently 
three-fourths of an inch thick. It had three toes; the points 
of the middle toe when put together were about five inches long, 
making the foot in the neighborhood of ten or twelve inches. 
The leg-bone was over two and one-half feet long; where it 
jointed to the foot, or a little above, it was about the size of a 
man’s wrist, and pretty much the same shape. As it increased 
in length it increased in thickness, but more especially in the 
vicinity of the joint where it connected with the thigh-bone. 
The great size and the peculiar shape of this joint was the 
most wonderful part of it. It was flat on the top like a plate 
and appeared to be about six inches in diameter. The thigh¬ 
bone was from sixteen to eighteen inches long, with a large 
knuckle-joint at either end, and about the size of a man’s 
wrist in the center, giving the bone somewhat the appearance 
of a dumb-bell. Putting the joints of the toes, foot, leg and 
thigh together artificially, I believe they would have stood over 
five feet in height. The neck and skull were the most defective 
parts of the skeleton, the skull being injured by my pick, a 
thing I was very sorry for, as I had never seen one before. As 
for those large bones belonging to a bird, up to this time I was 
rather a misbelieving Thomas; but 1 was now firmly convinced 
that they belonged to a bird, and a most wonderful one at that. 

The Maorie tradition of these birds is that they were lazy, 
and would stand the greater portion of the day upon one foot. 
They also represent them as standing thirteen feet high, but 
as it is not supposed that these Maoris knew anything about a 
tape line in those early times, it is well to give them all the line 
they want. 

It is said that a bone of one of these birds was once sent 
to Professor Owens, of England, and he should have said that 
the bird stood nine feet high, and, taking the climate of New 
Zealand into consideration, it was his opinion that the bird 


72 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

had not been dead over fifty years. I have no doubt but that 
Professor Owens was correct in the height of the bird from 
which he obtained the bone, but still it was quite likely that 
others of this species of extinct birds attained a greater height, 
for I observed that some of the bones were longer than others, 
and it would naturally appear from this that the moa-bird 
differed in size a good deal like fowls of today. 

There has been, and still is, a great deal of conjecturing 
as to how the moa-bird became extinct. Some hold to the 
opinion that the Maoris killed them for the purpose of pro¬ 
curing their skulls for tattooing cups; while others think that 
they were destroyed by the Maori tribes fighting with each 
other, and through spite setting fire to the long grass and ferns 
and they were destroyed by the fire. I have my doubts about 
this opinion being correct, for the settlers set fire to the long 
grass and ferns every spring, and the kiwi, a small bird of 
perhaps the same species, does not appear to suffer by it. It 
is evident that the moa-bird was largely a water-fowl, as their 
bones can always be found in the vicinity of a spring; and there 
is, no doubt but that they spent much of their time in standing 
around bodies of water on one foot, somewhat after the manner 
of the flamingo. Once in strolling through the Zoological Gar¬ 
dens, at London, England, I accidentally came across a pond 
with a small flock of flamingos standing around it. They were 
apparently standing on one foot or leg. I was rather struck 
with the curiosity, and lest I should disturb them, I retraced my 
steps to a short distance to enable me to take a good view of 
them. The leg appeared to me to be about as thick as a man’s 
middle finger, and in the neighborhood of two and a half feet 
long. What excited my curiosity most was how they balanced 
themselves on one of those small legs and folded the other under 
the wing. There is also no doubt in my mind but that the 
moa-bird was constructed similarly to the flamingo, taking the 
great length of the leg-bone for a criterion; besides its habits 
appears to have been pretty much the same. This view is 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 73 

strengthened by its habit of standing by water-holes or springs 
on one foot, and the further proof that the bird was web-footed 
and inclined to water like our water-fowls. The habit of 
standing about water-holes on one foot for hours at a time was 
perhaps what led the Maoris to believe them lazy. 

I saw recently by the newspapers that a live moa-bird had 
been captured in New Zealand. This might be true, but it is 
far more than likely that it is not. I was on the Island five 
years, and nearly every day during that time it was reported 
that a live moa had been captured, but it always turned out to 
be a hoax; and what makes me think the late reported capture 
a hoax, the illustration given of the bird in the papers was no 
resemblance whatever of what the bird once was. That is, to 
judge from the bones, and behind them we can not go for any 
description of the bird. In the first place the accounts repre¬ 
sent that the leg-bone to the first joint as short, and the thigh¬ 
bone long. This is not correct, for the leg-bone is nearly twice 
as long as the thigh-bone. The same papers say that when the 
English settled in New Zealand they found skeletons of this 
bird sixteen feet high; another mistake, for there never were 
any of their bones found that would justify an assertion so 
extravagant. The leg and thigh-bones put together are from 
five to five and a half feet high, so that the body of the bird 
never rested further from the ground than this distance. But 
taking the leg and thigh-bones as a criterion, the body of the 
bird must have been immense, and, taking the legs, body and 
neck into consideration, it is safe to say that when it attempted 
to catch flies or wild ducks flying over its head, it must have 
been capable of standing from nine to twelve feet high, but in 
its ordinary way of traveling, about nine feet, so that the asser¬ 
tion of sixteen feet is a little too strong. 

Another thing that leads me to believe that the bird is not 
to be seen in these days—not to say captured—is that it was 
represented as being captured in the forest. Now the forests 
of New Zealand, especially along the west coasts, where the bird 


74 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

has always been represented to have been captured, is so dense 
and so full of wild vines, or supple-jack, as they are called, that 
a man has to cut his way through them with a tomahawk. I 
have talked with men who have explored these forests, and they 
say that, on account of the density of the wood, they never saw 
a blade of grass. Now it is not likely, not even probable, that 
a bird like the moa could wander about through forests like 
those, when a man could scarcely make his way through them, 
besides the total absence of grass for the bird to feed upon, 
which was its main sustenance. From their nature, it is safe 
to say that the moa-bird never frequented the forests, as the 
finding of their bones in the valleys where a stick of timber 
never grew confirms this fact. All these things put together 
leads me to the conclusion that the moa-bird has not been 
captured, in modern times at least; but if it has the world will 
soon know it, as the bird is certainly _big enough to make a 
whole show within itself. 

One thing seems certain, however, and that is the moa-bird 
must have been very numerous at one time, for their bones are 
found almost in all parts of New Zealand. I once saw at the 
mouth of a ravine enough of their bones on the surface of the 
ground to have made a wagon load. Whether they had been 
driven in there and slaughtered by the Maoris for their skulls, 
or whether the birds had come in to a spring for water and 
stood around on one foot until they died a natural death, or 
committed suicide, is a problem I will not attempt to solve. 

If Australia can boast of a peculiar class of animals, surely 
New Zealand can substantiate her claim of being the home of 
a peculiar class of birds. One of the most peculiar birds alive 
in New Zealand today is the kiwi, but better known as the 
maori-hen. It is said to be the only representative of the 
family of Struthiones in the Southern hemisphere. It is about 
the size in body of a common hen, but has long legs, neck and 
bill, and being almost devoid of feathers. It is very cunning, 
and hard to catch, not altogether owing to its swiftness, but to 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 


75 


its manner of dodging. It seldom, if ever, ventures outside the 
protection of the fern or flax-hush. When a man runs after one 
of them, it will serve him the way a hare does a greyhound. 
That is, it will run before him, and just when he is upon it the 
bird will turn about as quick as thought and dart between his 
feet. When the man tries to stop or make a quick turn the 
ferns or flax will throw him from his feet every time, and when 
he has regained his feet he will feel himself surprised to learn 
that the bird he thought he had is nowhere to be seen. 

The kiwi seems to have a great liking for anything red, and 
owing to its weakness in this direction it can be easily caught 
by means of two long rods. To the end of one of the rods fasten 
a loop, and to the end of the other rod fasten a piece of red 
flannel or tape. Run this rod through the loop, and when the 
bird comes up, pull the rod gently back through the loop, and 
when it gets its head in the loop, raise the rod quickly, and you 
have the bird secure. When once caught it is easily domesti¬ 
cated, and when tamed is almost equal to two cats in a house for 
catching mice, which are very plentiful. Among the ferns in 
its native country, it is of course trained to the business from 
youth. I remember of going into a store one day and seeing a 
kiwi walking the floor. I asked the storekeeper what he had 
that thing in there for, and he replied, “To catch mice.” “Will 
it catch mice?” I asked. “Yes,” he answered; “it is far supe¬ 
rior to a cat.” Just while we were talking a mouse made some 
noise behind a flour sack that was lying on the floor close to the 
wall. The kiwi was at the place in an instant. It stretched 
itself out to its full capacity with its head turned a little to one 
side. It remained in this position sometime without batting 
an eye; but as the mouse did not make its appearance it 
walked away. I made up my mind that a mouse would have 
no show with a kiwi, except it was very close to its hole. In 
these times storekeepers were much annoyed by mice destroy¬ 
ing their goods. The little pests were so plentiful that five 
and ten dollars were freely paid by them for a cat, and the 


76 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

demand for the felines became so great that many were im¬ 
ported from Australia and sold for the above figures. 

The next bird worthy of note is the “kakapo,” or owl- 
parrot. This bird is considered by naturalists to form the link 
between the owl and parrot. But one of the most destructive 
birds for its size is the “kaka,” or brown parrot, generally met 
with in pairs. The most peculiar thing about their habits is 
their inclination to attack sheep and even horses, the attractive 
part being the kidneys. They are rather larger than the 
cockatoo, and their voice is quite harsh. It would be as dan¬ 
gerous for a person to lay hold of one of them as it would to 
take hold of a wild-cat. I shall always remember one Christ¬ 
mas evening I spent with a friend at a hotel. I remained with 
him until about two o’clock in the morning, when I started for 
home, or rather my camping-ground. My course was along the 
bank of the Molyneux. Everything was as still as the grave. 
The familiar croak of the frog was nowhere to be heard, and 
nothing but the murmuring of the water below disturbed the 
quietness of my surroundings. Presently my foot struck a 
flax-bush, when from behind it jumped two kakas. They 
raised straight up for about fifty feet, uttering the most un¬ 
earthly screams I ever heard. I thought whatever they were— 
fowls or devils—that they would tear themselves to pieces by 
their nerve-rasping screams. It was loud and frightful enough 
apparently to have awakened a town of ten thousand slumber¬ 
ing inhabitants. My hat raised on my head, and for a moment I 
made sure that' some one was going to appear that I had no par¬ 
ticular love just then for their acquaintance. But my fears were 
soon allayed, however,by the birds regaining their natural voices. 

The birds of New Zealand are generally easy-going and 
apparently somewhat stupid; but this is probably due to the 
newness of the country in part and partly owing to their never 
having received a lesson from the small boy on stone-throwing. 
But as the young generations come on I doubt if New Zealaiid 
birds will assume such an air of familiarity. 


EIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 77 

In speaking of birds, I have observed that it is far from 
true, as early travelers have asserted, that the birds of Hew 
Zealand are great songsters. Quite the contrary; what strikes 
the traveler in this country most is the stillness, and utter 
absence of the cries of anything, save those of the “kiwi” and 
“moapoke.” Here it differs widely from the Australian bush, 
where it is enlivened by the well-known croRk of the cheery frog 
and the everlasting chattering of the parroquets, and crowned 
by the festive peals of the “laughing jackass.” As my readers, 
or many of them at least, know but little of this wonderful bird, 
or from whence it derives its name, I will inform them that it 
is a bird about the size of the English jackdaw, and, like that 
bird, it is large about the head. They go in small flocks, and 
have the reputation of being regular snake-killers. Their mode 
or manner of killing them is for one of them to dart down 
upon the reptile like a flash, sieze and rise with it to a consid¬ 
erable distance, and then let go, when another and another of 
the birds repeat the attack until the snake is finally killed. 
Between these performances the birds on the trees make a 
laughing noise that can be heard very often over a mile away. 
It seems that they give this laugh as a sort of encore to each 
performance. But how they come by their inelegant name I 
never heard; but I judge it was through this laugh and the size 
of their head. I have often felt like attributing this account 
given of these singing birds of Hew Zealand to a drunken 
sailor, who, lying upon deck all night, and hearing the wind 
whistling through the rigging of the ship, in his dream, or im¬ 
aginary visions, concluded that it was the birds making heavenly 
music in the forests, and when he returned to his native shores, 
the people were anxious to know some of the peculiarities of 
Hew Zealand, when “Jack” told them what great songsters the 
birds in that country were. This story of Jack’s went into 
history, and while there is no truth in it whatever, yet it makes 
good reading—for the boys. 


78 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE MAORI PEOPLE—A PECULIAR AND INTERESTING RACE. 

As regards the Maori people there are very few of them in 
this neighborhood at present; but their old stone axes and 
camping-grounds are often met with. Their present place of 
habitation is in the northern part of this Island and on the 
North Island—more particularly on the latter Island. But 
still a few are to be met with in the vicinity of Dunedin. 
Though the Maori is said to belong to the same race as the 
Australian Aboriginess, yet in many ways they appear to be 
entirely different. But this difference might be largely due to 
climatic differences. In stature the Maoris are of the ordinary 
type—tall, well built, and of a brownish color, with black hair, 
with frames capable of enduring much physical exertion. The 
men are fighters from away back, and given the same care and 
drilling as the European soldiers, they would be their match 
every day in the }^ear. 

Like all other Aboriginal tribes, the women do the larger 
portion of the work, but as they take this as an honor conferred 
upon them by their husbands, the work, therefore, cuts no figure 
with them. Having so much manual labor to perform, they 
become strong and well developed. 

In the early part of gold-digging, miners experienced some 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 79 


difficulty in crossing streams owing to the scarcity of ferry¬ 
boats, but the Maori women made good this deficiency by carrying 
the miners in many places across the streams on their backs, 
the same as they would children. The Maori women in this 
way made some money, but while they were so engaged their 
husbands were probably sitting on the bank of the stream 
smoking their old clay pipes. It is said that before the Maori 
people became accustomed to biscuits and bread, the root of the 
ferfi was their chief food, especially the tribes living in the 
interior, who were, to some extent, unable to procure fish. To 
prepare the fern-root for the table was, of course, the work of 
the women; and woe be unto them if their husbands did not 
get enough of the finished article to satisfy their appetites. 
The root is prepared by pounding it between two stones, and 
the attitude of the women while so engaged was not strikingly 
lady-like. They sit cross-legged, smoking a black clay (for 
both women and men have a strong affinity for their old clays), 
and when the root is sufficiently pounded it has a tough, doughy 
consistency; it is moulded by dirty hands into cubical form. 
In case it is to be kept for any length of time it is encased in 
a basket-like matting made from the flax-plant. When cut it 
very much resembles, it is said, a cold plum pudding, but its 
indigestible qualities forbids its use in very considerable quan¬ 
tities. Its indigestibility make it suitable to support life for a 
long time without need of meat. 

In my opinion the Maoris are the finest race of Aborignees 
on the face of the globe, and it would take but a little time, 
care and attention to bring them to the front, for it can not be 
truthfully said of them that they are lazy, and this fact is one 
of the most redeeming traits in their character. I remember, 
once, while traveling in the company of two other men of com¬ 
ing to a Maori sod-hut; and just before we came to it, two 
Maori women came out and walked along the road before us. 
One of them, taking everything into consideration, was a model. 
She stood in her bare feet, I should judge, five feet seven or 


80 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

eight inches high, straight as an arrow, well proportioned, and 
would weigh 175 or 200 pounds. She had one of the largest 
growths of hair on her head I ever saw—in fact, it appeared 
that she had enough for six ordinary women. The boys, as 
usual, passed some remarks about her, myself among the rest, 
and after taking her size, including her feet, into consideration, 
I concluded that she would certainly make a full hand on a 
mud floor. This remark caused the boys to laugh; but I began 
to study how this woman had been raised in a miserable hut 
and of how many disadvantages she had labored under, and how 
many advantages we had over her, I was rather struck with re¬ 
morse. But then it is too common for both men and women 
to laugh at their betters. 

TILE WILD HOG. 

The wild hog is also to be found in this part of New 
Zealand. It is said that these hogs were first placed on the 
Island by Captain Cook, and that he brought them from Cork, 
Ireland. A great many of them had been killed by the miners, 
but a good many also were still to be found on the ranges. 
They subsist principally on the fern-root, like the Maoris, the 
only difference being that the latter pound theirs. I am not 
aware that any of these hogs had ever crossed the Molyneux 
river; it would appear that they never had. Hunting wild 
hogs is rather dangerous sport, unless a man has a Winchester 
well loaded, in good shape and knows how to use it, or a good 
bull-dog in reserve. A party of miners was out viewing the 
country one Sabbath morning, when they spied one of the wild 
hogs. One of the men had a gun and he ventured a shot at it 
in tolerably close quarters. The shot not having the desired 
effect, the animal made for him. The fellow soon found it 
highly important for his safety to beat a retreat, at the same 
time turning his gun, concluding the butt-end was the more 
formidable in order to protect his legs. Instead of his com¬ 
panions coming to his rescue, as the should have done, they stood 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 81 


back and laughed at what they considered fun. It might have 
been fun for them, but was certainly no fun for the man who was 
being chased by the mad “porker.” 

I never ate wild hog meat but once, and that was one 
evening while on my travels. I stopped at a hotel, when the 
ham of a wild hog was served for supper, but I was ignorant of 
the character of the meat. After our plates had been served 
in the usual manner, I partook of a small portion of the meat, 
but as soon as I had brought my grinders to'bear upon it I 
knew that I had caught a Tartar. The meat was dry, coarse and 
had a peculiar flavor, but still not unpleasant to the taste. I 
knew at once that I had never eaten anything like it before, and 
I could not for the life of me imagine what kind of meat it 
was. I had considerable difficulty in getting the bite masti¬ 
cated and swallowed; in fact, more trouble, I believe, than a 
boa-constrictor would have experienced in swallowing an 
Angora goat. Although all the other guests around the table 
seemed to be partaking freely of the meat, I concluded not to 
touch, taste or handle any more of it, until I found out some¬ 
thing more about what the animal that furnished such meat 
looked like when alive. Watching a good opportunity, as I 
did not want to expose my ignorance, I said to a gentleman sit¬ 
ting on my right, in a low voice: 

“Mister, what kind of meat is this, anyway?” In a like 
low voice he answered: “It is the ham of a wild hog.” 

I replied, “That I knew whatever it was, it was most likely 
wild, but that I had no idea what it was.” 

“I presume,” said he, “that you never ate wild hog be¬ 
fore?” 

“No, nor 1 have no pressing desire of doing so again.” 


82 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER VII. 

SOME OF THE NOTABLE SHRUBS AND PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND. 

I have noticed a small shrub that grows in this country, 
and which is known as “toot.” It produces a berry similar in 
color and size to that of the black currant, and is very poisonous. 
Sheep or cattle that eat these berries become “tooted,” or 
poisoned, and quite often die from the effects. But stock raised 
here are not as liable to eat the berries as that brought from 
the sister islands. I new a shepherd here to have a cow 
“tooted” by these berries which he valued at two hundred dol¬ 
lars. In some parts of Hew South Wales, Australia, a kind of 
pea grows that will poison cattle similar to these berries, and 
it is much dreaded by the cattle men. 

But one of the greatest and most useful plants to be found 
growing in Hew Zealand, or one that can possibly grow in any 
country, is what is known as “Hew Zealand flax.” One of its 
most commendable features is that it requires no care nor culti¬ 
vation, and grows abundantly upon land which, I might say, 
is fit for nothing else, as its real thriving home is the swamp, 
though it thrives fairly well, however, along the banks of 
streams, especially between high and low water mark, and on 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 83 

land that occasionally overflowed. It grows in bunches very 
similar to yucca, but of a lighter shade. Some of these bunches 
when cut are as much as a man can carry in his arms. The 
blades are from one to five feet long, and from one to one and 
one-half inches wide. When cut close to the ground, about 
one inch or so up, on the inside of the blade from where it is 
cut it is covered with a gummy substance that resembles thick 
mucilage, and when scraped off with a knife it will seal an en¬ 
velope or stick paper together as securely as the best mucilage 
made. We always sealed our letters with it. It is a difficult 
matter to separate this gum from the flax, and on this account 
it is a serious drawback to the flax, for it prevents it, to a great 
extent, from entering into fine linen. But for rope-making, 
coarse linen for shirting, and for grain sacks, paper flour sacks 
and paper bags, this flax has no superior. It is used extensively 
in upholstery, and is found valuable for numerous other uses. 
And this is not all. When taken in its green or natural state, 
we find it almost as useful. Take one of the blades and Drake 
an incision with the finger-nail at the top end, and the size of 
the strand required and then pull, it will split straight to the 
other end. It is said that the smallest of these strands taken 
off will hold a man’s weight. By knotting these strands to¬ 
gether you can make a rope that will hold the smallest or largest 
animal in existence. Ropes made in this way hold good only 
until the flax dries out, when the knots will become loosened 
and slip; but there is plenty more of the flax. If a miner 
comes along and wants a Tope to tie his swag or bundle, he goes 
to a flax-bush. If a teamster passing along and breaks any¬ 
thing, he goes to the flax-bush. If a farmer comes along and 
wants a rope for the time being to tie a load of hay or make a 
halter to lead his horse, he seeks the flax-bush. If a miner 
wants to tie the thatch on his hut, he goes to the flax-bush for 
the material to make his rope. And this is not all. The 
Maoris take these green blades and plait them into bags that 
do well to ship potatoes, turnips and such like in. But the 


84 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

most curious thing I saw plaited from these blades was an over¬ 
coat. This over coat would have been the idol of an Indian 
chief’s heart. The Maoris can plait these blades into almost 
anything useful, including baskets. 

A man who lives in New Zealand a few years feels that he 
can no more do without this flax than Mr. Gough could have 
done without his auld wife. The old man said his auld wife 
was so handy in sewing on buttons, adjusting his necktie and so 
many other things too numerous to mention that he felt that he 
could no more do without her than a pair of scissors could with¬ 
out a clinch-nail. Such is pretty much the position a man is 
placed in if he lives awhile where this flax grows. It is possible 
for an article to be praised too much, but this, I think, will never 
be the case with the New Zealand flax. 

I am not aware that this flax has ever been introduced into 
the swamps of our Southern States; but I am satisfied that it 
could be abundantly grown there, and had I the means I cer¬ 
tainly would try the experiment. Once introduced, it will be 
the last thing destroyed or removed. Its cost of production is 
simply that of collecting, and it will answer almost all the pur¬ 
poses of jute and manila. Look at the great benefit to be de¬ 
rived from this flax for binding-twine alone, if nothing else. I 
understand the flax grows slowly from the seed. This might 
be the case and it might not. The surest plan, however, would 
be to collect young plants, leaving as much native soil adhering 
to the roots as possible. These plants, placed in open boxes 
and kept well watered, could, I have no doubt, be brought from 
New Zealand to San Francisco by steamer in good shape. I 
have dug up some of these plants, as they came in my way, and 
threw them into water-holes, and they apparently remained 
green for a month. This fact leads me to the belief that there 
would be no difficulty to bring them to this country with proper 
care and attention. It would be well, however, to collect a 
large amount of seed. This would be no trouble, as it could be 
easily obtained in large quantities. New Zealand, like Ireland, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 85 


has neither snakes nor toads, although it may be said that they 
abound in plenty on the Sister Islands. It is also said that they 
will not live on either of the three Islands. Could it be possible 
that St. Patrick visited those Islands also when on his famous 
Milestone Cruise? Although it might have been good to have 
been in the company of so good a man and all that, yet it is 
doubtful if some of the boys of today would have accompanied 
him, especially if he had made the voyage around Cape Horn. 
Although the climate of Hew Zealand is somewhat similar, as I 
have said before, to that of Ireland, yet so far as the soil and its 
capability of producing is concerned, it can not in any way com¬ 
pare with the latter. In some of the valleys, or lowlands, they 
raise good wheat, oats and potatoes, but owing to the extreme 
roughness of the land, as a large portion of it is little better 
than the Eocky Mountains, I am of the opinion that sheep and 
cattle raising would pay best of all, providing a good market 
could be found for them. It is also rich in minerals; and, best 
of all, there is no country in the world that possesses a quieter 
or a more industrious or honorable class of citizens. There are 
few, perhaps, who possess a large amount of wealth; this is 
largely due, of course, to the newness of the country; but as a 
whole I don’t know of any country whose citizens are in a better 
shape or more prosperous condition. In their legislative body 
commercial men are represented by commercial men, farmers 
by farmers, and miners by miners. In this way the wants of 
all classes are fully set forth and adjusted as near as possible, 
without taking their coats off to fight over politics. In my 
opinion this is one of their strongest points. 


86 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER VIII. 

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTRY. 

So far as geology is concerned there is no country in the 
world—I except none—that affords better opportunities for its 
study than the Islands of New Zealand. Here everything, I 
might say, is met with in its primitive state. There is scarcely 
any accumulation; the waterworn bed-rock, just as it came 
from the sea, is to be seen everywhere, and if not it can be 
found by merely sinking a few feet. 

A man going to or studying geology in an old country is 
like going upon the roof of a house to find out how the building 
is constructed. If he wants to know how the building is con¬ 
structed he must follow it up from the basement to the roof. 
So it is with geology. If the geologist wants to know anything 
about the accumulation and formations of the earth, he must 
start at the bed-rock and as far below its surface as possible and 
follow it up through all its variations to the surface. 

Coal is also found in its infancy of formation, and the 
general appearance of the Islands, themselves, gives rise to the 
belief that, were the truth known, they would be found to be 
thousands of years younger than the Garden of Eden was when 
Adam and Eve were first permitted by their Creator to see the 
glorious light of day. 

Speaking of coal, there is much diversity of opinion as to 
its origin. Some will have us believe, although contrary to 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 87 

common sense or reason, that it is nnburned carbon placed in 
the earth as soot, while others rightly believe that it takes its 
origin from the vegetable kingdom, but fail to show, explain or 
demonstrate to ns to what part of this great kingdom it really 
belongs. Now I am a vegetarian myself, and I have come to 
the conclusion, not by “plowing with other men,” as it were, 
but simply by my own knowledge and observations, and I hold 
myself solely responsible for what I may declare on the subject. 
Coal, then, I assert, has its origin principally or solely from 
forests and bogs, the former producing what is known as 
bituminous coal, while the latter that of anthracite or stone 
coal This requires no assumption; it is plainly enough to be 
seen hy any one who will give it a casual study. 

For illustration:—Along the Molyneux river, Middle 
Island of New Zealand, there are several small flats that were at 
one time the bottom of so many small lakes. But the hand of 
time has changed things very materially, and those once small 
lakes, by reason of the river cutting or lowering her bed or 
channel, have become, like the celebrated moa-bird, things of 
the past. These small lakes, or what are now flats, lie mainly 
on the east bank, the cause of which I will show at a future 
time. At the north end of what is known as the Teviot flat 
(one of the flats along the river,), from a broken range of 
mountain forming its eastern boundary, a gravel-bank extends 
west into this flat about 150 or 200 feet, and is about twenty- 
five feet high. This gravel-bank was undoubtedly formed in 
the lake during its existence by two opposite currents; that is, 
the direct or downward current was met by an eddy or back- 
current that was formed or generated by the former striking a 
point of rock some short distance below. The general forma¬ 
tion shows this. Along the south side of this gravel-bank and 
toward its termination I came across two men, with whom I 
was acquainted, working a lignite vein. There were only a few 
feet of accumulation upon the vein, and I watched the men 
mining or digging for the lignite with a great deal of interest. 


88 .SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

The wood was not all quite metamorphosed or changed into 
coal, but such as was not was invariably found to be the knots 
of the tree. I examined and split several of these chunks, or 
knots, and found the grain of the wood, which was undoubtedly 
pine, and it appeared to me that the rosin in the knots was a 
serious drawback to the wood making the change into coal. I 
inquired of the men if there were any more lignite veins 
around this flat, and they replied in the negative. The ques¬ 
tion then came to my mind, where this wood came from, and 
how it got here, for there was no timber growing in the neigh¬ 
borhood, and to all appearances none had ever grown there. 
But there are patches of timber growing about the lakes which 
form the source of the Molyneux, and there is no doubt but 
such was the case in gone-by ages. This timber falling into 
the lakes, was carried down by the floods, as we see it to-day, 
and deposited along this gravel-bank by the very same eddy or 
back-current that formed the gravel-bank. The more I studied 
over this matter the more I became convinced of this fact, as the 
timber, or lignite, appeared to lay all on the lower or shady side 
of the gravel-bank and not on the side towards the downward 
or direct current; besides the lignite proves that a large portion 
of the wood that produced it was not nor never was underneath 
•the gravel-bank, but merely deposited in its shade, and finally 
when the river receded became covered up or imbedded in a 
few feet of wash which still remained. 

There was one thing that I was rather astonished at. 
There was a round hole at the top of the lignite vein containing 
about half a cart load of ashes. The fire that caused these 
ashes, I concluded, must have taken place after the metamor¬ 
phosis of the wood, as, had it taken place before, the fire in all 
probability would have burned along the tree or log, causing 
the hole to be oblong instead of round. How this fire origi¬ 
nated is a question that will never be solved; but it is within 
reason to suppose that it was the work of the Maoris. This 
ashpit was several feet under the gravel-bank, and my opinion 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 89 

is that it must have been covered in time by the loose gravel 
falling or rolling down the bank upon it. 

Now my claim is this: Lignite veins bear just the same 
relation to bituminous coal veins that a boy does to a man. 
This truth is plainly demonstrated by the above instance, and 
completely debars assumption, especially when we see trees be¬ 
fore our eyes that have been changed into coal, excepting a 
few chunks or knots that remain to tell the story, and as a 
verification of the theory. But it is not only here that the 
remains of wood are found. They are met with in every bitu¬ 
minous coal vein to a more or less extent; besides the leaves of 
the forest trees, and those of the fern that are found in the 
roofs of these coal veins furnish another infallable proof that 
forests were once there. We must also note here that coal, in 
some instances, has taken its plate at a very early date in the 
accumulation, or so-called crust of our earth, for we find it here 
upon the top of the orginal drift, but this may be due to the 
fact that this wood that produced it did not grow here. 

It is, and has been, the opinion of what are known in the 
world as smart men, that a forest of timber, no matter how 
great, owing to the great pressure of the earth upon it, would 
not be sufficient to produce a vein or stratum of coal three feet 
thick. One consoling fact about this is, however, that it is only 
their opinion, or rather what they assume , and not what they 
know. 

My experience and demonstrations have taught me that a 
large majority of these so-called great men, from the earliest 
days to the present time, very much resemble a stream in a 
flood; that is, they not only carry with them a great weight or 
prestige, but, like the flooded stream, they too often carry with 
them an overplus of bramble. Let us discard those old teach¬ 
ings of our so-called great men, and for a moment consider 
what those gigantic forests of Northern California, Oregon and 
Washington would produce were they left alone to die of their 
own accord, as they were left to do in the earlier ages. In sup- 


90 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

port of the great trees of California, which might well be 
termed the giants of the vegetable kingdom, we will take in this 
connection the celebrated forests of Australia, where the noble 
gum tree of the genus Eucalyptus grows in the Victoria State 
forests, on the slopes of the mountains dividing Gipsland from 
the rest of the Colony of Victoria, and also in the mountain 
ranges north of Cape Otaway, and again on the large tracts of 
land near the source of the Watts river, where nearly every tree 
in those great forests reach a height of from 250 to 300 feet, 
and mostly as straight as a line, and with but very few branches. 
Many of these felled trees are said to measure 350 feet in length. 
Again, on both the Dandenong and Otaway ranges nearly every 
tree in the forests over a large area is on the same gigantic 
scale; and those trees, perhaps, like their California brethren, 
have hundreds of years to grow yet. Just think of the forests 
where these mammoth trees are growing almost as thick as they 
can stand up to a height of nearly 300 feet, and to this 
fallen timber, add the foreign matter that is found in bitu¬ 
minous coal strata and then tell us whether this ponderous com¬ 
bination is not more likely to produce a stratum of coal fifty or 
sixty or even a hundred feet thick than it is one three feet thick. 

Taking all these things into consideration, there is no 
doubt but had our late forests (for where bituminous coal exists 
our late forests are not our primitive ones) been left alone to 
die like their ancient brethren, they, in time, would have pro¬ 
duced a stratum of coal fully as thick as any that underlie them. 

So far as this great earth pressure that we have heard so 
much about, I take but little stock in it. Of course, if it could 
be done, it would require a mighty pressure to squeeze a block 
of wood into coal, or a lump of clay into a sandstone. But this 
was not the way the formation was made, nor is it any criterion 
to go by. Wood, like clay, becomes solid or compact, not merely 
by pressure, but by nature. This is demonstrated to us by the 
strata of sandstone or limstone we find in the earth. We find 
them solid upon the very surface. We also find several strata 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 91 

of them away down hundreds of feet below the earth’s surface, 
and between these strata we find soft shale or some other soft 
or loose substance. 

Now it is needless to say that this shale and other soft 
substance or material didn’t receive as much pressure as their 
harder brothers did—the sandstone and limestone? They cer¬ 
tainly did. Why, then, did they not become solid and hard 
like the sandstone and limestone? Simply because it was not 
their nature. As it is with sandstone and limestone, so it is 
with wood. This was clearly demonstrated to me by the lignite 
vein in New Zealand, where I found the wood, I might say, 
changed into a solid vein of coal, with the exception of a few 
chunks or knots; yet the covering or accumulation upon some 
of it did not exceed three feet, and never was there scarcely any 
pressure upon it, but if it was pressure why did not those knots 
become solid like the balance of the tree? Again we find the 
upper vein of coal generally harder than that of the lower vein 
with three times the pressure upon it. So, I think, it is to be 
seen very plainly that it is not pressure that produces or reduces 
coal strata; but just how much or how little a bank of clay is 
reduced by changing into sandstone, or a forest of timber into 
coal, I am not prepared to say, neither does the man live or ever 
did live that knows, and I will leave it to some one that is better 
at guessing than I am. I am of the opinion, however, that if 
one of those mammoth trees I have mentioned were placed in 
a position to become metamorphosed or changed into coal, 
allowing for the amount of water it would absorb during the 
process, and it is doubtful whether it would be reduced from its 
original size very much, if any. At any rate I am confident 
that the reduction would not be as great as that which some of 
the so-called learned geologists, who base nearly all their opin¬ 
ions upon assumption, would have us believe. 

The fact of the matter is, when we take into consideration 
the various strata in the earth that are solid and loose, and the 
stumps of trees that are still to be found in their natural state 


92 SbME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

in coal strata hundreds of feet below the surface, I am led to 
believe that this so-called great pressure is a delusion, because 
if it were true everything in the crust of the earth would become 
solid alike under it. But this, as we can readily see, is not the 
case, and it is not only demonstrated to be a mistaken idea by 
the stumps of trees in coal strata, but in many other things as 
well. I think if the truth was known the earth’s motion has a 
great deal to do with the matter in this case; that is, it pre¬ 
vents or reduces to a great extent this dead weight or pressure 
of one stratum upon another, allowing them to form according 
to their natures, and which we see has been the case. 

To illustrate my ideas on this subject let us take a barrel, 
for instance, and lay it on its side, cut a hole in it and place 
within it alternate layers or strata of sand, loam, flagstone, clay 
or any other material. Make these strata solid and compact 
so that neither of them can move. Close up the barrel. Now 
if this barrel is allowed to remain in this position there will 
naturally* be a shrinkage and a pressure downwards or towards 
the bottom or lower side of the barrel, and in this way one 
stratum will bear upon another. But if we place this barrel on 
pivots—in the same position as the earth—and whirl it around 
with the earth’s motion, one stratum will not bear upon another 
to the same extent as it did when the barrel was at ease. This 
is undoubtedly the case with the earth; for if coal strata were 
formed by pressure and not by nature, no tree or any part of one 
could remain in them hundreds of feet below the surface in its 
natural state, when every other tree around it or any other 
material was squeezed into a solid. This is a demonstrated fact 
that man can not get around. Although this barrel may have 
a great air-pressure on its surface, it would have little to do 
with the strata inside. Just so it is, in my opinion, with the 
earth. Anti-vegetarians say by the way of a stumbling block 
that if coal is a vegetable product it should more abundantly 
exist in the equatorial regions; but the more they press this 
question the more they will find themselves like the wasp, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 93 

which extracts its poison from the very flower that the bee and 
the vegetarian take their honey. It is a well-known fact that 
it requires the combination of three elements to produce timber 
in its mamoth state, viz: Soil, rain and heat. This is a com¬ 
bination rarely found in the equatorial region, and so are mam¬ 
moth trees, and so is bituminous coal. The home of forests is 
not in that of a dry, parched country, but rather in that of a 
temperate climate, where this combination of elements reaches 
its greatest perfection. It is nothing to be wondered at, then, 
if we should find the majority of bituminous coal strata in this 
climate. Again we can demonstrate this fact right in our own 
country without necessitating a trip to the equatorial region. 
Let us, then, for instance, take Arizona or Nevada. Either of 
these States has a warm dry climate, but timber does not grow 
in them to the extent that it does in the more temperate climate 
of Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania; neither does coal abound 
there the same as it does in those States. And why? Because 
this great combination that is so essential to the growth of 
timber is broken. We also find the same state of things existing 
in Southern California. This section has the necessary soil 
and heat but lacks the rain—one of the most essential parts. 
So it is nothing strange, then, to find Southern California 
almost destitute of timber, while we find in Northern Califor¬ 
nia, Oregon and Washington—all in the more temperate cli¬ 
mate—abounding in heavy timber, and in may places bitu¬ 
minous coal. This coal proves that wood grew here from a very 
early date, showing the stability of the climate, that is, it 
proves to us that rain fell here the same as it does to-day and 
since the first day the land raised above water. It is an estab¬ 
lished fact that bituminous coal is seldom found in a desert or 
arid plain, although patches of it are often found in a warm, 
dry climate, but the vegetation that produced it was either 
nourished by snow water, spring water or by the moisture in the 
vicinity of lakes. So anti-vegetarians can easily see how coal is 
found so sparingly in equatorial regions, and they can put it 


94 SOME MEMORIES OE A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

down as a fact that it will be found sparingly in all countries 
where irrigation is made essential for the growth of plants. 

In regard to peat bogs, it is well known that by pressure it 
will produce a substance as hard, and it will burn the same as 
anthracite or stone coal, and just as smokeless, and there is no 
doubt but this coal was derived from peat bogs. It is also well 
known that the home of the peat bogs is in a wet or cold climate. 
This dampness may be caused also by rain or snow water, and 
as grass, moss and lichens may be called the last retreat of veg¬ 
etable life—the very substance that produces bogs—it will be 
nothing strange, then, if we should find anthracite almost at the 
Pole, or where snow ceases to melt or thaw. 

As bogs undisturbed in some locations grow to a great 
depth, as we find it to be the case with some of the Irish bogs, it 
would be nothing strange in many instances to find strata of an¬ 
thracite coal a hundred feet thick. 

Some people, however, think that bogs are not of a quick 
growth, and take for their standpoint a bog in Germany that 
was measured a hundred years before and had grown only an 
inch during all that period. This may be true, but it should 
not be taken as the standard of the growth of all bogs. 

What would we think of a man that would take his ax into 
a forest and deaden a tree by chopping the bark off all around 
it, save a small portion, that he would leave for the purpose of 
carrying or conveying as much sap or vitality as would merely 
keep the tree alive, and then go back in a few years afterwards 
and measure the tree again and take this measurement as the 
standard of the growth of the forest trees? Such a measure¬ 
ment would be rightly looked upon as an absurdity. Yet this 
is just the way that men calling themselves learned and erudite 
have been trying to enlighten the world. On measuring this 
bog they overlooked the fact that farmers had been taking their 
fuel from it for centuries, and in many instances reclaiming 
land therefrom, thereby not only isolating it from the land, but 
draining it as well, and thus depriving the bog of its vitality just 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 95 

as the man and his ax had deprived the tree of its vitality by 
chopping away its bark. So it can be seen that the growth of 
this bog was very little more than what kept np its waste or 
shrinkage, and should not be taken under any consideration at 
all as a standard of the growth of bogs in their primitive or 
original state. 

Again, anthracite coal is not only found in valleys and low¬ 
lands, but very often on the tops and slopes of mountains. This 
we see in many parts of Pennsylvania. Just so it is with bogs. 
I have seen them in Ireland on the tops and slopes of mount¬ 
ains and in the valleys. I have seen the same existence of 
things in New Zealand. I remember when once crossing Mount 
Banger, in company with two companions, of running into a bog 
on the western slope of the mountain (almost on its top), very 
unexpectedly, for we had no idea of the existence of a bog in 
such a locality. We kept going on, however, thinking that we 
would soon be over it, but in this we were greatly mistaken. The 
further we proceeded the more soft and deeper the bog appeared 
to become, and finally it became necessary for us to hurriedly re¬ 
trace our steps in order to save ourselves. 

Now here was found a bog, I might say, at an elevation of 
almost 6,000 feet above sea-level, and right up to, and in the line 
of, perpetual snow; and there is no doubt but that this bog owed 
its existence to the snow melting on the more elevated ground 
—the case with all bogs we find upon the mountain slopes or in 
the valleys. As has been stated, they either owe their existence 
to excessive rains, snow water or spring water. Thus it matters 
not whether we find anthracite coal on the summits of mount¬ 
ains or on their slopes, or in the valleys, or at the Poles, and 
no matter what may be said to the contrary, it was the bogs 
that produced the anthracite coal fields, just the same. 

Another important fact to be learned right here is, that 
snow water, rain water or spring water running down from the 
rocks or from higher ground upon this bog, or any other bog, 
consequently carries with it more or less sand and other foreign 


96 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

substance, and this is what partly produces the ashes in anthra¬ 
cite coal. 

Some men appear puzzled, or rather at a loss to understand, 
why anthracite coal in one section of a country contains more 
ashes than others; but they will find themselves greatly relieved 
if they will but make a study of the location of the bogs that 
produced them. It is very evident that the bog that received the 
most wash, or debris, as a natural consequence contains the most 
ashes. For instance, anthracite coal in California contains less 
ashes, it is said, than that of the Eastern States. This is owing 
to the fact that less rain falls there than does in the latter States, 
and consequently there are less floods. This again is supported 
by the fact that peat cut or taken from the lower part of bogs, 
where it contains more sand or clay, will produce three times 
as much ash as the peat taken out of the bank higher up, or to¬ 
ward the top or surface of the bog. This everyone knows that 
ever cut and burned peat; therefore it would not surprise me in 
the least to hear that anthracite coal, as a general thing, con¬ 
tains less ash and burns better when obtained toward the sur¬ 
face of the vein than that taken at or toward the bottom. This 
I believe to be the case, while the matter may have been over¬ 
looked by both miner and consumer. The same might be said of 
bituminous coal. 

Another thing to be learned here is that rocks from higher 
ground may break away from other rocks, as is often the case, 
and roll into bogs and become imbedded there, and this is how 
they come to be found many times in coal strata. 

One other thing noticed in the ISTew Zealand bog was the 
presence of considerable shrubbery growing here and there 
through it. Doubtless it first had the floor, as the very same 
thing existed in the Irish bog, proving that it was no new thing 
in this particular. I remember when a boy of cutting peat that 
was so full of vertical stems of shrubbery that the peat fell to 
pieces and was almost worthless. The difference, then, between 
the wood, or rather the grains of the wood, in anthracite coal 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 97 

and that of bituminous coal, is that it is vertical in the former, 
and as a general thing horizontal in the latter. It would not be 
strange, then, if these two coals were found blended in the same 
stratum. This will become the more apparent to a man who 
will study the Irish bog. On the floors of some of these bogs he 
will find fir trees and their stumps, with some of the latter still 
in a vertical position. It is the more evident, therefore, that the 
timber, or forest, first had the floor, although there are many 
instances where timber has been washed from higher ground, 
the bog forming afterwards, and bog and timber thus becoming 
blended and metamorphosed together in one stratum, make it 
hard for some men to understand. But as all such must have 
something to say, they tell us that from some cause or another 
the anthracite or hard coal received more heat than its softer 
brother, Bituminous, who, perhaps, is *iot over a foot apart. But 
as it is plain that neither of them received any heat, such as as¬ 
sumption may well be called bosh! Such a thing could not be. 
The whole truth is that they are two distinct coals, produced by 
two distinct classes of the vegetable kingdom. 

In reference to fir stumps, I remember when I was but a 
small boy, while playing around one of them, I discovered in its 
roots a cow’s horn. I pulled it out. It was short and very much 
resembled those worn by “short-horned cattle” of the present 
time, which proved to me, then, as well as now, that “short 
horned cattle” were nothing new. The horn was full of some¬ 
thing having the appearance of jelly, and was in a fair state of 
preservation, though it may have been lying where I had found 
it for a great many years. As the stump was lying some fifteen 
or twenty feet below the surface of the bog, and if we take this 
German bog as a standard or criterion, the horn must have been 
there not less than eighteen thousand years. But if the truth 
was known, it would be found that particular horn was a grow¬ 
ing ornament on some old cow’s head perhaps less than two 
thousand years ago. 

The question now arises, how did this horn get into the fir 


98 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

stump ? This is undoubtedly a hard question to answer, but the 
most reasonable conclusion to my mind is that while the .cow 
was alive and playing around the stump she stuck her horn into 
it and broke it off. What prompts one to arrive at this conclu¬ 
sion is that I had known cattle to stick their horns in turf-banks 
while at play in the bogs and break them off. But I suppose 
it matters but little to the cow now how she broke her horn, but 
she lost it in some way or another all the same. 

Still another overwhelming truth in connection with our 
coal strata is that which must be evident to all intelligent men, 
that the floor of the earth, in order to have produced them, must 
of necessity have been held in the same position for a very 
lengthy period. This could never have been done by a class of 
vegetation that only survives for a season, for every shower of 
rain that falls upon the ; earth produces a change or a new 
stratum of one class or another, let it be ever so fine. So it is 
plain to be seen that it was entirely beyond the power of our 
common vegetation to have produced a stratum of coal, for such 
vegetation, as is well known, is lost in the progress of accumula- 
lation, and cannot amount to anything more than that of en¬ 
riching the soil. 

It is said that those forests of timber that were growing 
on the mountains of San Domingo when Columbus landed upon 
its shores are still growing there to-day. This is proof in itself 
that forests live and grow to a great age, and although they did 
not hold our earth, for that cannot be done, as I have already 
stated, they prevented the formation of any other substance 
upon it during their existence, just as a forest of timber does 
to-day. When they have fallen through age or any other cause, 
and metamorphosed they were sufficient to form an independent 
stratum of their own. It must be admitted, then, that there is 
no other class of vegetation known to the earth or to man, that 
can accomplish or produce those strata of coal, save that of for¬ 
ests and bogs. This is a truth standing up so high that the 
world may look upon it, and if all other arguments in its favor 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 99 

were discarded it is amply sufficient to prove the whole truth of 
the matter itself. 

There is still another class of coal known as cannel coal. Al¬ 
though this coal was also produced from vegetable matter, it was 
formed by a different class of vegetation, and in a distinct and 
different form from that of bituminous or anthracite, inasmuch 
as the vegetation which produced it was undoubtedly largely 
grown in water, such as lagoons or lakes. Besides, it is so well 
known that when such lagoons or lakes are surrounded by for¬ 
ests they become, through the influence of both wind and water, 
the receptacles for a large portion of the forest leaves, which 
are also known to be highly inflammable. This combination 
of vegetation growing, accumulating and putrifying under water 
caused it to retain more gas or inflammable material than either 
wood or bogs, in an ordinary way, was capable of producing. 
This, in my opinion, is how cannel coal was formed. 

In support of this idea or assertion I will take for instance 
the lately discovered seam or vein of cannel coal in the neigh¬ 
borhood of Fairview, Ohio, the area of which, as I am informed, 
comprises about one thousand acres. Now, this area alone is 
sufficient to prove that it had formerly been a small lake, such 
as still exist in parts of the State to-day. I am also informed 
that this seam or vein of coal is not strictly pure, but rather a 
kind of a bastard. 

Now, the same rule that I have just explained governs this 
stratum of cannel coal that governed the bogs that produced the 
anthracite coal; that is, the difference in the amount of ashes or 
adulteration was simply due to the amount of wash or foreign 
substance they received. It would appear from this that this 
small lake in question, as is generally the case, was so located 
that it received a great d°a! of wash or drainage from the sur¬ 
rounding land, which naturally carried a sediment that blended 
and adulterated, as it were, the purer vegetable matter that was 
thus forming and accumulating in the lake. But that is not all, 
ter this sediment being of a clayey nature, not only caused the 


100 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

adulteration of the coal, but it caused its parting or lamination, 
similar, in some respects, to bituminous shale, and which must 
be the case with all vegetable or other matter forming and strat¬ 
ifying under water. The lack of this lamination, in either bitu¬ 
minous or stone coal strata, is ample proof that neither of them 
was formed in or by the influence of this great element. As this 
lake gradually became filled up or smaller, timber gradually and 
naturally kept encroaching upon its margin, or reclaimed 
ground, and in this way It was but a short time after the lake 
ceased to exist till timber was growing upon its ruins, and in a 
comparatively short space of time afterwards joined hands with 
the surrounding forests. And when all, as it were, became tired 
of this life, through the infirmities of old age, fell to the ground, 
forming, or helping to form, this bituminous stratum that now 
lies almost upon its ruins. This is further supported by the fact 
that in many instances there are only a few feet of foreign sub¬ 
stance between those two separate and distinct veins of coal, 
which is a proof within itself that there was but a short time 
elapsed between the annihilation of the lake till timber was 
growing upon its former site. 

There are some men, perhaps, of the opinion that the nearer 
the center of this seam of cannel coal is approached the purer 
and better it will become. This might be the case, and it might 
not. I am rather of the opinion that such will not be the case, 
because the lake, as undoubtedly it was a lake, the wash still fol¬ 
lowed it up to its final end; so it is hardly possible that one part 
of it could be purer than another, but still there might be such a 
thing produced wholly by local causes. 

The old’theory of geologists that each coal seam, however 
vast and boundless their extent may be, were universally sub¬ 
merged beneath the sea to receive its supposed beds of sand, clay 
and lime, and afterwards re-elevated essentially to the ocean's 
level to receive the next coal seam placed above it, is an absurdity 
and a delusion in their most glaring forms. Although we have 
sufficient proof that the earth was totally submerged in water 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 101 


at one time, we have no proof that it was ever a “Jack-in-the 
box;” besides it is unreasonable in the extreme to suppose that 
the earth should know when to sink down and when to jump up, 
and to know whether it had a stratum of coal or sandstone upon 
it. I regard this as one of the weakest and most flimsy argu¬ 
ments ever advanced by man (and that creature has put forth 
a great many), but still some people believe the story simply 
because some “great man” has merely said or assume it, over¬ 
looking the fact that the greatest man who ever lived, perhaps, 
hadn’t judgment enough to yoke a team of oxen. No man knows 
it all; therefore we should not give him credit, it matters not 
how great he is, with anything he may assume beyond reason. 
What he deserves credit for is what he can prove by demonstra¬ 
tion, and not merely what he assumes, for, when it comes to 
guessing, one man can guess as good as another. What island 
can be cited to us, and the proof furnished, that it was sunk be¬ 
neath the waters of the ocean and preserved? Not one. The 
plain truth is, that where an island sinks it means its destruc¬ 
tion and not its preservation. The same would be equally true 
of a coal stratum. What does the sand by the seashore teach us 
but the annihilation or destruction, and not preservation, of the 
rocks upon its floor? A great lesson on this can be taken from 
a wide sandy beach that lies immediately north of the mouth of 
the Hokatike river, west coast of New Zealand. The sand con¬ 
stituting this beach was blended with fine gold, so much so that 
at one time it caused a “rush,” and men were still working upon 
it in my time there. Now if the'sea was capable of casting up 
this fine gold and sand from its floor, what reasonable or sane 
man can look to it for preservation when it is demonstrated to us 
that its whole nature, as it were, is bent upon that of destruction. 
My experience and observations leads me not only to believe, 
but to know, that no well-defined stratum of coal, gold or any 
other mineral, ever was formed, existed or could ever exist upon 
the floor of the sea. I will give you my reason for this assertion 
at a future time. 


102 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

It appears strange to some men how coal strata got to their 
present locations. This is one thing, I believe, that caused geol¬ 
ogists to resort to the opinion that the earth was somewhat sim¬ 
ilar to “J ack-in-the-box." But this is easily explained, if we are 
careful not to grapple with too much at a time, or in other 
words, we must not think that all these things were accomplished 
in a single day. 

As all good things should begin or eminate at home, let us 
begin there, taking for an example an old resident of your town. 
Ask him what changes have taken place during his time, and 
he will tell you of a great many. Among the rest, he will point 
with apparent pride to a certain spot and say: "There is a place, 
I remember when a boy, that it was a frog-pond; now there is a 
house built upon it, and it must have filled up not less than 
fifteen feet." Now here is fifteen feet of accumulation upon 
the floor of this frog-pond and fifteen feet more upon the stra¬ 
tum of coal that underlies it—all occurring within the time of 
this man's memory or lifetime. So this is the way that forests 
and bogs that produced coal strata got their present locations. 

And again. Some thirty-six years ago I landed in Mel¬ 
bourne, Australia, and the first mining camp I visited in that 
far-off country, as I have already alluded to, was "Indigo." 
This camp was located in a valley lying between two low parallel 
mountain ranges, some ten or twelve miles south of the Murray 
river, and known as the Ovens District. Here I found the 
sinking to be two hundred feet deep. The gold was found in 
a wash in the bed of what once was a zig-zag stream that ran 
upon the surface at the time the gold ran in it, just as sure as 
the frog-pond mentioned had been upon the surface. How, 
then, did this gold get covered up so deep? Just the way the 
frog-pond did—but it wasn't done in a day. 

For further proof let us take some of our ancient cities— 
Ninevah, or the Cities of the Plains, for instance—and where do 
we find their ruins to-day? Some thirrty or forty feet below 
the surface, perhaps, and we have just as good proof, although 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 103 

we never saw them, that those cities existed as we have that the 
frog-pond did. How, then, did they get to their present loca¬ 
tion? Just the way the gold strata did in Australia and the 
way the frog-pond and coal strata did in Ohio or in any other 
country. So, after all, it is easy to understand how coal strata 
got to their present location, and the fact is so plain and so 
easily understood that it requires no argument. 

Give coal strata all the time they want, and it is safe to say 
that the majority of them was formed within the last five or six 
thousand years. 

Everything points as plainly to me as a finger-board 
points to a city—especially when the city is in sight—that as 
soon as the sea ceased to roll over the land, vegetation of one 
kind or another began to grow upon it; and as the fern leaves 
are so prominent among ancient vegetation, and as we see it 
growing to-day in the crevices of the bed-rock on the mountains 
of Hew Zealand, where there is barely sufficient soil to cover its 
roots, and where everything has the appearance of nothing ever 
having grown before it, it is safe to put it down as one of the 
first representatives of the great vegetable kingdom. Shrubbery 
and pine, also, appear to have taken their places at a very early 
date. Vegetation, then, as now, decayed and fell, but there was 
so little of it that it became lost, as it were, in the great progress 
of accumulation. 

As vegetation seemingly can no more stop than the world 
can, it takes the floor again in its season, and perhaps becomes 
blended, as the soil changes, or becomes deeper with some new 
varieties, but in time shares the same fate as the variety that 
preceded them. Rain, snow and frost are defacing and making 
sad havoc among the rocks. This decomposed material is being, 
from time to time, carried down from the highlands, just as it 
is being done to-day by floods, to the valleys, where it widens 
and enriches them, and rendering them more capable of sus¬ 
taining vegetation on a larger scale or producing a larger 
growth. Forests now begin to make their appearance, and 


104 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

where soil, rain and heat prevail these forests take the floor and 
hold it supreme for an indefinite period. Although forests be¬ 
long to the vegetable kingdom, they are not a summer plant. If 
they were, man would never have known what bituminous coal 
was. But the forests, like man, finally give way to old age, and 
fall to the ground, and holds the floor for another lengthy 
period. Accumulation is still going on until it finally arrives 
at the level with the fallen timber. The latter now begins to be 
covered, and as the wash or debris is carried over it by the 
floods, a portion of it naturally finds its way between the fallen 
trees as they lay (for it is well known that the trees cannot fall 
in a compact shape or form), and here is where an occasional 
rock and a large portion of the foreign substance found their 
way into bituminou^ coal strata. This foreign substance and 
the soil that was retained, in many instances in the roots of the 
fallen trees, is what constitutes, in my opinion, the ash and slate 
in bituminous coal. 

Now it is not reasonable to suppose that anthracite or stone 
coal should contain as much ash and slate as bituminous coal, 
from the well-known fact that bogs grow compactly and have no 
crevices to fill up. So that when they finally become imbedded 
or covered up, they are entirely in a different position from tim¬ 
ber, and, as a natural consequence, must certainly contain less 
ash or foreign matter. Again, this wash or debris as was 
carried over this fallen timber by the floods naturally deposited 
a sediment, constituting soap-stone, behind it, that became to 
some extent blended with fern leaves and leaves of the forest 
tree. This, beyond question, is what caused those leaves to 
appear in the soap-stone upon the roofs of bituminous coal 
strata as they are seen today. The fallen trees have now be¬ 
come imbedded in the earth, and in course of time become 
changed or metamorphosed into coal. But the world does not 
stop here; it goes right on just the same as though nothing had 
happened, and it doesn’t seem to care for anything, nor does it 
make any mistake. And what a great blessing it is to the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 105 

inhabitants thereof that our world understands its own business 
so thoroughly! 

Accumulation still goes on, and in time another forest 
arises and holds, the floor of the earth the same as before. It, 
too, finally succumbs to old age and falls and is covered up as 
before, and by the lapse of time is changed into coal. Thus 
it progresses in this same manner until man comes upon the 
scene, and cuts down the forests, and forever, or at least during 
his time, puts an end to the making of bituminous coal. During 
the time those fallen trees were changing into coal the wash or 
accumulation between them was changing into sandstone, lime 
stone, shale and such like. It is in this accumulation or alluvial 
deposit in Australia that we find well-defined strata of gold. 
Such are not found in New Zealand, only to a limited extent, 
from the fact that the major part of the gold there had been 
washed upon the floor of the sea prior to its elevation. It is also 
in this accumulation or alluvial deposit that we find well-defined 
strata of coal. 

Who has ever found coal of any description, or anything 
pertaining to it, in or below the bed-rock or original drift ? In 
hunting for gold in the valleys of New Zealand, where all the 
gravel or drift, I might say, was largely original, yet in sinking 
through it to the bed-rock, I never found between it and the 
bed-rock, nor even on the rock, any sediment of a boggy or vege¬ 
table nature. Although I struck the bed-rock hundreds of times 
in different localities, it was always the same. Taking this 
vegetable sediment in the sea, which is supposed by geologists 
to constitute coal, from the mountain ranges, if there ever were 
any, it would naturally have found a place in the valleys. But 
such is not the fact. After giving the matter considerable 
thought, it became evident to me that no such sediment could 
remain upon the land, for as soon as the land became elevated 
to a certain extent the sea would have more power or action 
upon it. Many times, seeing gold in some of the New Zealand 
rivers, I have tried for hours at a time to fish it out with a long- 


106 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

handled shovel, but I never succeeded in accomplishing the 
job. I could lift it a short distance from the bottom, but there 
was no way in which I could turn the shovel so that I could 
raise or take the gold from the stream. The current, as a gen¬ 
eral thing, was stronger toward the surface. This fact should 
make it plain enough, even to the most illiterate person, that the 
earth could not sink into the sea with a well-defined stratum of 
coal, and remain so until covered. The facts are that it would 
not, nor could not, remain longer in a defined state than it would 
touch the water or sea; so that any sediment of a vegetable 
nature would naturally blend with the water and be carried, per¬ 
haps, off the island or continent by it and deposited on lower 
ground. This not only accounts for the absence of this sedi¬ 
ment, but it becomes still plainer to me that it is a mistaken idea 
that this so-called vegetation that has been supposed to exist in 
some parts of the floor of the sea, did or could enter into coal 
strata. In fact nothing appears more unreasonable, as coal is 
neither a wash nor a sediment. But there is no doubt but that 
our bituminous shale-beds were sa formed, because shale-bed^ or 
strata, as can be seen, were thrown together without any refer¬ 
ence to a certain depth or thickness, and which certainly must 
be the case with all strata found in the sea, or by water. 

Again, some geologists will have us believe, by way of as¬ 
sumption, of course, that, owing to the great growth of the fern 
tree and other trees of the forests that are to be found in the 
remains of ancient vegetation, that our climate must have been 
warmer then than at the present time. Now, so far as this 
great growth of vegetation is concerned, there appears nothing 
to support or sustain this assumption, from the fact that we 
find in New Guinea to-day groves of fern trees from forty to 
fifty feet high. Take these fern trees with the great forests of 
Australia, California, Oregon, Washington and many other 
places on the globe, and give them their growth, as I have 
already said, and we feel certain in saying that the vegetable 
kingdom has never been better represented at any time during 


FIVE YEARS OK THE GOLD FIELDS OF KEW ZEALAND. 107 

the earth’s existence than what it has been in the present centnry. 
Of conrse this mammoth class of vegetation does not extend all 
over the globe—neither did it of old—but it proves to ns beyond 
all question that there were favored spots upon the earth then 
as there are now, those favored spots showing the quality of the 
soil, and not heat. 

Again the assumption that our climate was warmer in the 
by-gone centuries than it is at present, cannot be sustained, and 
we have nothing to prove that the sun gave out more heat in the 
days of Adam, or prior to his day, than it does now. The mam¬ 
moth growth of vegetation, as I have already shown, does not 
prove it by any means, and that is the only proof that man pos¬ 
sesses. 

On the mountain ranges of Australia it is not timber alone 
that is growing to such enormous height, but all varieties of the 
vegetable kingdom are well represented. Now if we move off 
from those ranges to the valleys below, perhaps not over a mile, 
we will find a different class of vegetation. The fern tree and 
underbrush have perhaps disappeareo'. The stately gum tree, 
almost branchless, is supplanted by a different variety of the 
same species. Their trunks are large, short and branchy, and 
are growing as sparingly as trees planted in an orchard. Now 
if there is anything in heat, it is warmer in the valleys than it 
is upon the ranges. What, then, is the cause of this sudden 
or abrupt change in the vegetation? for it is evidently not the 
lack of heat in this case, but the lack of soil, for in the valleys 
or flats the soil is of a clayey nature, while that upon the range 
is of a loamy character; besides, as a rule, there is more rainfall 
on a range than there is in the valley. It is not hard, therefore, 
to discern that if geologists have nothing to prove the mammoth 
growth of vegetation but by heat, they are entirely left. It has 
been demonstrated that the change of soil will not only produce 
a new plant, but a variety of plants in the same climate; for 
instance, the gardener, by adding a particular class of manure 
to the soil produces the well-known mushrooms. The climate 


108 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

of the southern part of New Zealand is very similar to Ireland, 
but New Zealand flax does not grow in Ireland; neither does 
the “manuka tree.” This tree is a kind of shrub, but under 
favorable circumstances it grows to a considerable size. It pro¬ 
duces one of the most fragrant flowers that grow, and you can 
inhale the odor from its bloom quite a distance away. If there 
has not already been, there doubtless will be, a perfume extracted 
from it that will leave all others in the shade. The flower is 
white with a yellowish cast and somewhat similar to the 
lilac in shape, but is larger and more bunchy. The wood 
is very hard and full of knots and cracks. The miners 
often used this flower as a substitute for tea when out 
of luck, or so situated that they could not obtain the tea. They 
said it made a good substitute and ‘filled the bill’ pretty well. I 
am of the opinion that this shrub could be grown in our southern 
States, or any place where the winters are not too severe.” 

Again there are many places on the globe that have a 
climate similar to New Guinea, and still those mammoth fern 
trees do not grow upon them. And again, we find in Australia 
where the valleys have the same class of soil as the ranges, that 
the gum trees are of the same species, and grow to the same 
enormous size and height. It will thus be seen and proven that 
this mammoth growth of vegetation was produced more from 
the quality of the soil than it was through the agency of great 
heat. There is really no doubt but that the quality and nature 
of the soil is not only responsible for the great varieties in ‘the 
vegetable kingdom, but for their great growth as well. Bui 
there is no use to dwell upon this subject, for coal strata alone, 
if we had no other proof, these are sufficient to prove 

the quality of the soil and the stability of our clim- 

at, for the forests that produced our bituminous coal 

plainly show (just as much as though we were look¬ 

ing at them) that they had soil, heat and rain in due 
season, the same as now. The. depth of coal corresponding 
with the heaviness or growth of the timber and quality of the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 109 

soil, as our present forests show ns, so is it a fact never to be for¬ 
gotten that we can have no better proof of the nature of the soil 
and the stability of our climate than those coal strata that lie, 
in many instances hundreds of feet beneath us, it matters not 
what may be assumed or asserted to the contrary. For further 
proof on this subject let us take Eastern Ohio, West Virginia and 
Western Pennsylvania, and we see their climates sympathize 
with each other. To-day there is scarcely a storm strikes one 
but what strikes the other. Their coal fields are similar to each 
other, proving unmistakably that their climates have always 
been the same since the land was first elevated from the sea. 
The great amount of bituminous and anthracite coal taken from 
the State of Pennsylvania alone not only proVes her to be an old 
State, but one of the best watered and heaviest wooded States in 
the Union. 

ICEBERGS AND GLACIERS NEVER CUT GROOVES AND CAVITIES IN 

ROCKS. 

Geologists tell us again, by their favorite way of assump¬ 
tion, that there was a time when icebergs and glaciers ruled 
supreme, and they bore down from the north upon the American 
continent (without any reference to water) carrying destruction 
with them like the Assyrians of old. How geologists came to 
make an assertion like this is certainly not only a mystery to 
themselves, but to every one else who has given the matter a little 
study. Right here, I wish it understood that I am no geologist, 
but merely an acute observer, and I make this assertion, and will 
stand by it, single-handed against the world, that an iceberg nor 
a glacier never cut a groove, a cavity or cave in a rock, nor never 
was even the cause of one being cut. I will prove this, not only 
by words, but by demonstration, before I finish the subject; so 
that if this is all the geologists have to support or sustain their 
pet theory—that of the waterworn and scratched rocks—they 
will wake up some morning and find themselves clinging not to 
the “rock of ages,” but the climax of all delusions. The unwav¬ 
ering truth is that those rocks were worn by water and ice- 


110 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINERS LIFE, OR 

plows, icebergs and glaciers had no more to do with them than 
the man in the moon. In regard to water-worn rocks there are 
several varieties, that is, the rocks are worn in different ways, 
according to their position in the water, viz: 

First—The cobblestone; second, the bowlder; third, the 
grooved, shelving or scratched rock; fourth, a cavity of a cres¬ 
cent form; fifth, a cave. 

The first named rock, as everyone knows, is a very common 
one, and may be seen in nearly every river, stream or water 
course on the face of the globe, the sea not excepted. They are 
made by rolling and rubbing against each other in the water, 
and there are millions upon millions of them made in the sea 
and river every day, entirely independent of glacier or iceberg 
—a fact that every schoolboy knows, or at least ought to know. 

The second class of rocks are not so common, but in a new 
country like New Zealand they are the principal rock. The} 
are, however, found in nearly every part of the globe—sometimes 
in river beds and valleys, and at other times on the slopes and 
summits of the highest mountains. They are slightly water- 
worn or rounded, and mostly or entirely belong to the main reef 
or bed-rock, and very often are found a long ways from home, 
or from the parent rock. The cause J shall later explain. 

The third class of rocks were cut by a direct, or, more 
properly speaking, by the edges of a direct current, and must be, 
as a general thing, parallel with the stream, let the stream run 
east, west, north or south. They were worn by the water carry¬ 
ing cobblestones and sand over or against them. I have seen 
some rocks away up on the banks of streams, in the valleys and 
even on the summits of mountains, that bore such deep grooves 
in their sides that the miners ofteu made themselves huts by 
merely building an outside wall along the groove. Such huts I 
have often seen. 

Scratched rocks are merely grooved rocks in their infancy. 
We often see this rock on the floors of streams, in valleys, and 
on the tops of mountains. Sometimes the grooves or scratches 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. Ill 

run straight, but very often in a zigzag form, caused solely by 
the movement of the water, for, as is well-known, water cannot 
always run straight. This deviation is largely caused by the 
water coming in contact with rocks or other obstacles, throwing 
it from a direct course; so that grooves or scratches worn in a 
rock by the water carrying cobblestones and sand over them in 
the manner described would naturally be in a zigzag form. The 
geologist tries to make something out of these scratched rocks, 
but the fact abides that they are too simple to make a fuss 
about. 

The fourth class of grooved rocks is a cavity cut or worn 
in a half-circle or crescent form. This cavity, to my mind, is 
the most common. It is often seen in the sides of large rocks, 
as well as in the bed-rock, and is always found on that side of 
the rock toward the stream or source of the river. They are 
simply cut or worn by the water rushing cobblestones, gravel and 
sand against them; and as this combination cannot pass through 
the rock, it is naturally forced to take a circular movement in 
the form of an eddy, and this is the cause of wearing those cavi¬ 
ties in that way. Another variety or form of cavity, is 
entirely round. It is very often found on the floor or beds of 
streams. The cause of such cavities is apparent, for as soon as 
the water by any means makes a depression in the rock, sand and 
gravel enter it and is carried around by the force of the water, 
as I have already said, in a circular movement that is well known 
water takes upon entering a hole or cavity. Now, should 
this cavity become elevated, through any cause, so that the force 
of water would rush cobblestones into it, the stones would be car¬ 
ried around so fast, or with so much force, that they would fly 
out at the corners or angles, this would naturally wear the rock 
at those points, thereby converting this class of a cavity into one 
of crescent form. Now, by paying strict attention to how all 
these classes of rocks are worn by water, and the cause, a man 
could as easily trace a current along the top of a range of 
mountains, where the bed-rock is exposed, as he could trace or 


112 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

follow an ancient water-course. Geologists tell us that this is 
the course of the ice-plows, but this is a delusion also of the 
worst type. 

Caves are generally cut or worn by the edge or side of the 
stream, and not by a direct current. That is the depression in 
the rock was first made at or by the edge of the stream, but some 
distance below the surface of the water. The water entering 
this depression, as I have already shown, turned with a circular 
movement, cutting the hole or cave in some instances entirely 
round and it continued to do so until the water receded or 
dropped below it. My attention was once drawn to one of the 
neatest little caves I ever saw. It was located in the side of a 
mountain. The most peculiar thing about it was the entrance 
to it was so small that it would scarcelv admit a child, while there 
appeared to be ample room inside for two or three men. It was 
perfectly round. Now a cobblestone never entered this cave, 
but was carried past by the stream or direct current, and all that 
remained in the cave was a small portion of decomposed rock 
that no doubt had been used by the water in wearing the cave. 
Every seam inside the rock was as perfect as the day the water 
receded from it. Therefore it is not only unreasonable, but it 
is madness to even suppose that an iceberg or glacier or any part 
of them ever entered this cave, yet the seams in the cave were 
identically the same as that in all other cavities, thus proving 
that all were worn by the same powerful agency. 

Another peculiarity about these caves or cavities is that the 
deeper they go the wider they become. This is something that 
nothing else but water can Accomplish. So there is not, and 
never was, any cause for man to be mistaken in regard to the 
cause that wore them, for he, with all his ingenuity and skill, 
cannot reproduce one of them with a chisel, much less an ice¬ 
berg or glacier. Thus it matters not in what light or in what 
way we view the iceberg and glacier, the proof is overwhelmingly 
against them that they never produced a cave or cavity. In the 
first place, in order for them to have done so, they must neces- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 113 

sarily have, as I have pointed out, a circular motion in their 
movements—a motion that is well known they do not, nor never 
did possess. But, for the sake of argument, we will admit they 
had such a motion, and we will allow a rock for their special 
benefit to be frozen in their bottom for the express purpose of 
cutting or wearing other rocks upon the floor of the sea. It will 
be seen that as soon as it came in contact with them, as it would 
have to stand prominent, that is some distance below the ice, in 
order to do any cutting, it would have become loosened under the 
immense weight and jar of the iceberg and dropped out. But 
to suppose further that the rock had remained fast, it could not 
then have worn or cut a cave or cavity. Why? Because a hole 
cut in a rock by this method, or any other method save by water, 
would be like an augur-hole—as wide at the bottom as at the 
top. This is a shape, as anyone knows if he knows anything, 
that a cave or cavity does not possess. The fact is they are often 
ten times larger at the center and bottom than they are at the 
top, and this fact alone will suffice to prove to any one that these 
caves and cavities are not the work of glaciers and icebergs. 

The bed-rock of Hew Zealand belongs to the sedimentary 
class, and is largely composed of alternate layers of brown or 
trap-rock and quartz. These layers differ very much in thick¬ 
ness, sometimes being over an inch thick, while at other times 
scarcely as thick as the blade of a fine case-knife. But let them 
be thick or thin, they remain in those caves and cavities as well 
defined and as perfect as the day the water left them there. This 
would not be the case if they had been gouged out by a rock. 

Hot being satisfied with the lesson the outside appearance 
of those rocks and cavities afforded me, I often, when traveling 
alone, threw down my swag and crawled into them, remaining 
there for hours at a time, struck, as it were, with the ingenuity 
of the water. The most interesting part about them to me was 
the roof overhead (now no one will possibly suppose that an 
iceberg or any part of one could work upon the roof), where 
every seam in the rock, no matter how fine, was intact, al- 


114 SOME MEMORIES OE A MINER^S LIFE, OR 

though the water had left it perhaps thousands of years before, 
While sitting in those caves and studying the matter, it became 
a great mystery to me how the geologist could attribute the 
wearing and cutting of caves and cavities in rocks to either 
glaciers or icebergs, when it must be plain, even to 
the average mind, that such a thing was not 
only an impossibility, but too absurd to think of, 
because there never was any reason or necessity for 
any man becoming so “mixed” with erroneous ideas, as it were, 
as to what did wear those rocks, for water, like the bee, knows 
of no variation. It does its work so peculiar to itself that it 
seems to me that Cain could have as easily cast off the mark that 
God placed upon him as one of those water-worn rocks could its 
imprint of water, and it matters not whether we see one of 
those water-worn bowlders or bed-rock bearing caves and cavi¬ 
ties on the Rocky mountains, the Alpine ranges or the Southern 
Alps of New Zealand; they are identically the same, and you 
can put it down as a truth that will stand as long as time, that 
all the land upon the globe at one time was submerged by water, 
be that time before or since the days of Adam. Even the tops 
of the highest mountains were on a level with the floor of the 
sea. This assertion will stand wear; it will stand light, as it 
can be demonstrated in several ways, each way sufficient in 
itself, to prove, beyond question, the whole matter. For an 
illustration: 

On the summit of Mount Banger stands one of the largest 
rocks, perhaps, in New Zealand, if not in the world. It is part 
of the main reef or bed-rock, and it never was carried any more 
than the mountain itself. This rock is water-worn in a peculiar 
shape, at a distance somewhat resembling that of a man, and 
it is known all over the island, I might say, as the “Old Man 
Rock.” While traveling along the top of the range south of this 
large rock, I noticed large water-worn bowlders strewn in every 
direction, and all belonged to the main reef. One large rock in 
particular drew my attention. It had a groove so deep in its 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 115 


eastern side, showing exactly how the current struck it, that 
several men could have found shelter in it from a storm. I 
stood viewing this striae for some time almost struck with 
wonder. What astonished me most was that, although this rock 
was on the top of the mountain, and an elevation close to six 
thousand feet, yet this groove appeared to be as fresh as the same 
class of grooves on the bank of the river. Now taking similarly 
grooved rocks in the bed of the Molyneux (which runs imme¬ 
diately at the base of Mount Banger) and in the sides and on the 
top of this river’s banks as a criterion, the current that wore the 
groove in this rock in question, came from the north or north¬ 
easterly direction. But those rocks not only prove to us the 
direction of the current prior to the elevation of the range or 
mountain, but they prove to us unmistakably that the very sum¬ 
mit of this range was on a 1 evel with the floor of the sea, and it 
was while thus submerged t hat the rocks received their grooves. 
It was in this submersion where the bed-rock received its caves 
and cavities, and it was also during the period of submersion 
that these furrows were worn or cut by the current in the bed¬ 
rock, although geologists throw all their weight or claim to the 
ice plow and iceberg. Demonstrated facts will prove that their 
claim or theory is without the shadow of a foundation, and, like 
hundreds more of their theories, simply imaginary. This fact 
every man can prove with but very little trouble, and there will 
be nothing left to assume. 

Although water furnishes the power, or brains, as it were, 
in the performance of its work, it very often lays hold, as can 
be seen, of cobblestones, gravel and sand, and uses them as a 
tool or servant in the performance of its work. This fact makes 
it plain, then, that those grooved rocks which we find on the 
summits of mountains could not have been cut or worn any¬ 
where else but on the floor of the sea; and the strong indis¬ 
putable fact remains that as a mountain becomes elevated, cob¬ 
blestones, sand and gravel are carried or washed to the valleys 
below, just as we see that they have been. This, as a natural 


116 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

consequence, would have deprived the waters of their use. The 
bowlders, owing to their immense weight and position, kept their 
places or positions, and this accounts for them being met with 
on some of the most elevated lands. Again, one other proof 
amply sufficient to prove the submersion of mountains is, that we 
sometimes find on their summits and leading spurs patches, as 
they are called, of drift or wash, merely retained there by acci¬ 
dent, which contains sand, gravel and cobblestones—just the 
same kind of wash that we find in the beds of rivers, valleys and 
on the seashores. Such patches of, wash are often met with on 
the mountains and their spurs in New Zealand, and when they 
are in a country where gold is found, they seldom fail to contain 
gold, and I have known miners to “make a raise,” as it is called, 
on such patches or elevations. 

I remember, on one occasion while I was in New Zealand, 
that my partner and myself visited a mining camp known as 
“Thompson's Flat.” This camp was south of Lake Wanaka, 
both places being separated by a range of mountains almost 
reaching a line of perpetual snow. Upon our arrival at this 
camp we inquired of a miner who had been a resident of the 
place for some time what the chances were for making “a raise.” 
Said he, pointing up to a spur of the range which appeared to 
stand several hundred feet above the flat: “There is paying 
gold in a wash on that spur provided you could get it to water.” 
I thought this the most unlikely place to find gold that I ever 
saw, and in my own mind concluded that the fellow had told us 
anything but the truth. When morning came we decided to 
have a look at the spur anyhow, and taking our pick, shovel and 
tin dish, we started for the place in rather a misbelieving frame 
of mind. Reaching the place, however, I was much surprised 
to find things just as the miner had represented them to be. 
The wash was rather coarse, and was composed principally of 
large cobblestones blended with gravel and sand. The gold was 
found to be flaky and showed signs of having been much worn by 
hard usage. It was adhering largely to the cobblestones, as is 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 117 


generally the case. This, as a natural consequence, necessitated 
the washing of the whole business—a thing that would not pay 
at this time owing to the price of labor and the amount of it 
required to get the wash off the spur and to the water. Such 
was the reason, doubtless, that the wash had been allowed to 
remain unworked so long. This wash contained, I might say, 
a hundred per cent more gold than was generally found in a 
majority of the wash in the valley below, but in other ways it was 
identically the same. 

On either side of this spur was a deep depression, but, 
strange to say, it contained no wash of a cobblestone nature. 
Looking around for the cause of this wash remaining on the spur 
(for I knew there must be a cause), I discovered that it was pro¬ 
tected on three sides by projections of bed-rock, forming a de¬ 
pression, the only door of ingress to which being along the spur 
toward the summit of the range. The cobblestones were lying 
or slanting down hill, the same as in a river, and which proved 
to me conclusively that at the time of the elevation of the mount¬ 
ain the wash followed the spur from the summit of the range 
and became lodged in this hole or depression through this door 
or ingress, and was there held and protected from the power or 
influence of the rushing water. There appeared to be thirty or 
forty cart-loads of wash in this depression, and there can be no 
doubt but for the projecting rocks the whole mass of it would 
have been carried, as the other wash was, down upon the valley 
below. Spurs of mountains ending in a similar manner is 
where such wash is generally found, and it proves very conclu¬ 
sively that it was all captured in the same way. 

But this is not all. Finding this gold-bearing wash upon 
the tops of mountains, the same as in the valleys, not only proves 
their total submersion, but it proves beyond all question that 
this gold and cobblestones were washed upon their floor prior to 
their elevation—a thing that could not have been unless the 
summits of the mountains and the valley were, at a time, upon 
the same level, as I have already pointed out, and there is no 


118 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

doubt but such was the case, for the general formation upholds 
this truth. Upon the elevations of some mountains, as can 
easily be seen, from the fact that all mountains were not raised 
alike, a great rush of water accompanied some of them, in many 
instances carrying with it, not only the wash to the valleys, but 
bowlders and everything that was loose, save and except a few 
cobblestones that by accident found shelter in holes or cavities 
in rocks, as I have already shown, which serves us to-day as a 
monument to the truth that the mountains were not only sub¬ 
merged in water but that their summits were on a level with the 
valleys. 

Again, there is a large tract of iand lying east of a line 
drawn between Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu, some twenty 
or twenty-five miles north of this place. The land is as rough 
perhaps as any found outdoors. It is not rough merely from its 
great height, for its highest point does not exceed perhaps 5,000 
feet above sea level, but it is rough because of the irregularity of 
its formation; besides it contains so little of an animated nature 
that it impresses one with a feeling or the idea that he is stand¬ 
ing upon the earth even prior to the days of Adam. Although 
this large tract of land might truthfully be said to be without 
form and void, yet there is a great iesson to be learned from it 
by the thoughtful, from the fact that it shows to the observer 
just what our earth was and what it looked like when liberated 
from the sea, and, to some extent, prior to that time. Those 
elevations and depressions as seen give us a correct idea of what 
portions of the floor of the sea looked like; but there may be, 
and doubtless was, a great deal of the irregularity of this ground, 
as well as other grounds caused through or by its elevation. 
Some of these elevations were so narrow on the top that but few 
travelers ventured along them, less they might accidentally make 
a miss-step and be hurled to death down three or four hundred 
feet on either side. In case a traveler was so unfortunate as to 
take the plunge, and still be so fortunate as not to meet with in¬ 
stant death, he would be totally shut off from aid for a consider- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 119 

able length of time from the outside world. The bed-rock of 
all this rugged and jagged waste is perfectly bare, just as the 
mighty ocean left it, save a few scattering spruce pines that have 
found a foothold here and there on a rocky bluff. The fern 
and a few briars have also laid claim for existence in the little 
soil lodged in the crevices, though they appear to receive but 
little nourishment, they stick to what they have just the same. 
Water-worn bowlders lie strewn over the ground, sometimes hav¬ 
ing the appearance of stepping-stones for the traveler, and at 
other times thrown into promiscuous heaps as though by the 
work of great water force, and appear to have been done by the 
waters of the receding ocean. Anything like a wash was almost 
or entirely swept to the rivers, valleys or lake-bed, hundreds, and 
in many places thousands, of feet below. The color of gold was 
to be found in the crevices or depressions of the rocks, almost 
everywhere, and where a little wash by accident had found shel¬ 
ter, gold in paying quantities was found, similar to the instance 
I have before mentioned. Here, again, is another unmistakable 
proof that this tract of land, or rock, was not only beneath the 
sea at one time, but that this gold was washed upon its floor prior 
to its elevation. Anything like a lead of gold was not to 
be found, but this is nothing more than we should expect, as the 
formation of the ground, by its extreme irregularity, prevented 
its formation; and this is one of the many things which has 
caused me to assert and maintain that no well-defined lead of 
gold, stratum of coal or any other mineral exposed to the sea, 
ever did, or could, ever exist in a stratified form upon its floor— 
in fact it is simply an utter impossibility. 

Another lesson to be learned here was the date of vegeta¬ 
tion, for it appears right here, as I have before stated, that as 
soon as the sea ceases to lay claim to the land, some of the 
varieties of the great vegetable kingdom lay hold upon it, and 
there is no doubt, if the truth could be known, but that the fern 
led the van in nine cases out of ten. The reason of this is very 
obvious, because it and the spruce pine grows in the crevices of 


120 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

the bare rock, showing and proving that soil wasn’t essential to 
their growth or production. Not so with the apple, olive and 
forest trees, for the decay of vegetation, such as the fern, grass 
and herbs, was essential in order to produce the plant food, or 
germ, of their being or existence, and on this account it is but 
reasonable to suppose that there was a long interval, or time, 
between the first appearance of the fern and those trees. Al¬ 
though it appears from the Scriptures to have been done in a 
day, and doubtless was, but it was one of those long days that 
is needless to say that man doesn’t know anything about. Al¬ 
though these two varieties of the vegetable kingdom, that is the 
fern and spruce pine, grew side by side, they played different 
parts in the accumulation of our earth. The decay of the form¬ 
er went to enrich the soil, while that of the latter formed the 
lignite beds which are found in New Zealand and perhaps many 
other countries at the present day. 

Still another proof of the submersion of the highest mount¬ 
ains is, as we are informed by geology itself, that on the Alpine 
ranges—away above where the present glaciers are formed and 
below where they actually exist, and on the Jura (a chain of 
mountains), of which the average height is about one-third that 
of the Alps—is now entirely destitute of glaciers (and the truth 
is that it always was), still, we are informed, it presents every¬ 
where similar moraines and the same polished and grooved sur¬ 
face and water-worn cavities as the Alpine range. Now we find 
just such rocks in the beds of New Zealand rivers, in the val¬ 
leys, on the slopes and summits of the highest mountains, 
where, it is safe in saying, that a glacier never existed. Another 
point is, the grooves and cavities in the bed-rock are not cut or 
worn in a natural or supposed line with the movement of a 
glacier, but parallel with the range. Some of those grooves and 
cavities are worn so deep in the bed-rock in the slopes of 
mountains that a man could crawl into them and be perfectly 
safe if a thousand glaciers should pass over him. This is |)roof 
again that no glacier, anything else, in sliding or rolling 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 121 


down the mountain ever cut them, from the fact that whatever 
wore a groove, its movement must necessarily have been on a 
parallel line with it. This, then, should again forever debar 
the assumption that these grooves and cavities were cut or worn 
by glaciers sliding down mountains or ranges, because, as I have 
said, we find these grooves at right angles to the movement of 
the supposed glacier. 

It appears that the grooved surface and water-worn cavities 
and erratic rocks (as they are termed by geologists), which cover 
the great valleys of Switzerland and the Jura range are a phe¬ 
nomenon that has not only astonished but perplexed the gelo- 
gists for more than a half century. So says geology. Now why 
should geologists—men so well versed in assumption, and men 
who appear to know it all—become perplexed when they find 
the same class of rocks on the Jura as they do upon the Alpine 
ranges when the former is entirely destitute of glaciers? The 
answer, in a nutshell, is, that they are like the Israelites who 
always got themselves into trouble—by worshiping false gods. 
Geologists have not only been a half century, but for centuries 
have been, worshiping icebergs, ice-plows and glaciers, or rather 
attributing to them the cutting, carving and water-wearing of 
our rocks, and turning their backs, as it were, upon the true 
god—water—which has been the maker and destroyer of rocks 
from the beginning of time; hence their trouble. 

Again, another question arises how those large water-worn 
bowlders got upon the summit of the New Zealand mountains, 
the Alpine ranges and many mountains in America, as well as 
in many other countries, if they were not both elevated at the 
same time from the floor of the sea. We are informed by 
geology that on the Hoosic mountains is a bowlder of 500 tons 
weight which had been carried from a ledge across an interven¬ 
ing valley 1,300 feet deep, and at the same time elevated 1,000 
feet above its source. Now this is a most wonderful thing, but 
the geologist fails to throw any further light on the subject, 
more than assumption. Just think, if you will, of a rock 500 


122 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

tons in weight being carried across a valley 1,300 feet wide and 
at the same time elevated 1,000 feet above its source. It is 
certainly astonishing, and it sounds to me like witchcraft. In¬ 
asmuch as it is asking too much of an iceberg to carry a rock of 
this size across a valley 1,300 feet wide, and then place it upon 
its shoulder, as it were, and elevate it 1,000 feet above its head, 
still we will suppose that an iceberg did perform this feat, but 
where was the water to float it? If our earth was all covered 
with water so deep that an iceberg could float upon the tops of 
the highest mountains (which must have been the case in order 
to deposit the large bowlders there), where, then, did the ice¬ 
bergs get those bowlders? Again it is too plain that a glacier 
nor avalanche never deposited a rock upon a summit or slope of 
a mountain, from the well established fact that neither was ever 
known to slide up hill; but it is just as easy to believe that 
they did so as to believe that an iceberg crossed over the Ameri¬ 
can continent on a dew-drop. For an illustration, let us take 
the Falkland Islands, for instance, and suppose them to be in¬ 
habited from the days of Adam. It is safe to say that there is 
not a man or a woman that ever lived on them up to the present 
time but what would be as familiar with the smell of an ice¬ 
berg as a colored man is of an onion; yet a man is safe in bet¬ 
ting his worth at all times that not one of them ever saw one 
cross over the islands. One of our greatest truths is that a gla¬ 
cier never carried a rock frozen in its bottom; but so far as the 
cutting of rocks is concerned, it does not matter whether they 
did or did not; it could not cut a cavity in a rock anyhow, for 
the reason which I have already given. My reason for assert¬ 
ing that a glacier never carried a rock frozen in its bottom is, 
that, in traveling over perpetual snow on the New Zealand 
mountains, I found the surface of the snow to be covered with 
an icy crust, and the snow underneath to be in a hard, granu¬ 
lated form, without any adhesiveness whatever, rendering it 
incapable of holding anything. It seemed to me that when it 
thawed, that it thawed underneath or upon the surface of the 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 123 

ground, and not upon the surface of the snow. This snow had 
laid so long that in many places it was of a dark color, as if de¬ 
composed. In relating my observation to a gentleman, he gave 
me some of his experience. He said that some time prior to 
this that he had gone out with a prospecting party for gold in 
the snowy ranges in the province of Canterbury, and coming to 
a deep creek or canyon they could not find any place where they 
•could cross it, so they decided to go higher up the range and 
cross over on the snow. In thus crossing the canyon on the 
snow he said he could hear the water running in it apparently 
fifty feet below him. This, he said, almost frightened the 
party out of their wits, being fearful lest they would break 
through the crust on the snow and drop down into the canyon. 
Now this water running into the canyon came from springs 
or the snow melting on the range, and as the snow wasn’t melt¬ 
ing upon the surface, it is conclusive that it was melting under¬ 
neath. This gentleman said further, that the snow was appar¬ 
ently rotten, and looked as if it had laid there for the past 
hundred years. It can, therefore, be seen that, although snow 
upon mountains may appear in the distance like solid ice, it is, 
in reality, only piles of snow with an icy surface, and is inca¬ 
pable of doing any more with a rock than shoving or carrying 
it to the base of the mountain, and this is how terminal moraines 
are formed. Now it is useless to say that snow on the mount¬ 
ains of New Zealand is not distinctly the same as the snow on 
the mountains of Europe or any other country. 

With reference to glaciers Captain Kane says “that they are 
displayed on a grand scale in Greenland. On its western coast 
is a glacier 1,200 miles long, and presents to the voyager a per¬ 
pendicular wall of ice 2,000 feet high; a great glacial river seek¬ 
ing outlets at every valley; rolling icy cataracts into the Atlan¬ 
tic and the Greenland seas, and at last reaching the northern 
limit to the land which has borne it up, pours a mighty frozen 
torrent into Arctic space. Unlike the Alpine glaciers, which 
melt in the warm valleys below, this empties into the ocean, and 


124 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER^S LIFE, OR 

vast masses becoming detached, are floated away to be dissolved 
in the milder waters of southern seas.” “Thousands of ice¬ 
bergs,” says Kane, “throng the northern ocean, freighted with 
debris to be deposited on the sea-bottom of lower latitudes. 
Could we examine the track of these ice-rafts we should doubt¬ 
less find striae cut in the polished rocks and blocks deposited in 
long trains where the bergs had struck, scraped along by their 
enormous momentum and at last stranded.” 

Agfin, says Kane: “As I looked over this ice-belt losing 
itself in the far distance, and covered with millions of tons of 
rubbish, greenstones, limestones, chlorite, slate, rounded and 
irregular, massive, and ground to powder, its importance as a 
geological agent in the transportation of drift struck me with 
great force. Its whole substance was covered with these contri¬ 
butions from the shore. And farther to the south, upon the 
snow-frozen waters of Marshall Bay, I could recognize raft after 
raft from last year’s ice-belt which had been caught up by the 
winter, each one laden with its heavy freight of frozen material.” 
—Arctic Expedition. 

Now all this looks well and reads thrillingly on paper, but 
if we, with honesty, review what Captain Kane here records as 
his observations we will be certain to come to the conclusion 
that a large portion, if not all, was simply imaginary. In the 
first place he tells us of this great glacier 1,200 miles long, -and 
showing to the voyager a perpendicular ice-wall 2,000 feet 
high. Now Mr. Kane tries to convey the impression that all 
this vast glacier was solid ice, but this we know could not be the 
case, from the fact that, if it was, the projections of bed¬ 
rock, bowlders and everything that was solid as well as loose 
would become imbedded or frozen in its bottom. Such being 
the case, it could no more slide than the mountain could, unless 
by thawing underneath, and liberating or cutting away from the 
rock. But supposing that it did, there would.not be an available 
rock left upon the range by the sliding of such an enormous 
glacier, but beyond doubt all would be carried to the sea the very 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 125 


first slide. Again he tells us of “a great glacial river seeking 
outlets at every valley, as if it was lost, and finally pours a 
mighty frozen torrent into Arctic space.” What are we to 
understand by this running frozen stream? A frozen stream, 
it occurs to me, could not run; and if it was running under the 
ice he could not have seen it. As a general thing we are taught 
to believe that everything is frozen tight in the Arctic regions, 
but Captain Kane tells us of this swollen river that is seldom 
equaled by the Ohio, in a temperate climate, with the ice break¬ 
ing up in the spring. This flood, as described by the explorer, 
would indicate warmer weather than we in general give the 
Arctic regions credit of possessing. But supposing Captain 
Kane saw all the water he represents having seen, where did it 
all come from? I will venture to say, without any fear, that, 
from what I have seen of the snowy mountains, that it did not 
come from the surface of those glaciers he has described. Mr. 
Kane also records that those glaciers and icebergs are doing a 
good business in the way of transporting rocks and debris that 
come from the shore. So far as rocks and debris coming from 
the shore is concerned, I believe to be all right, for there is no 
other place for them to come from. But how do the rocks get 
upon the glacier? The only reasonable conclusion we can ar¬ 
rive at is, that a glacier sliding down a mountain naturally 
loosens rocks, some of which, under such great weight, cannot 
leave their places until the glacier has finally, passed over them, 
when they roll down upon its icy crust, and are carried, or may 
be carried out to sea in this way. But then, how few. 

If ever rocks were seen or found on glaciers or icebergs 
water-worn, they were water-worn before they left their resting- 
place. This can be seen to be true in all the rocks on all mount¬ 
ains, for it would be as impossible for water to wear a cavity 
or a groove in a rock upon either a glacier or an iceberg as it 
would have been for Daniel to have become frost-bitten during 
his sojourn in the fiery furnace. But suppose these ice-rafts 
were loaded with rocks, as Mr. Kane says, and admitting that 


126 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINERS LIFE, OR 

they carried off every available rock on the Island of Greenland, 
what would that signify? Why, it would not amount to any¬ 
thing more to the great quantity of rocks found upon the land, 
not to mention the sea, than a bucket of water would to the 
Pacific ocean. In fact, it is safe to say that there are more 
rocks in some places of New Zealand on a square acre than was 
carried by all the icebergs that ever floated. In the next place, 
who has ever seen those ice-rafts at sea loaded in this way? I 
have seen several icebergs, and some of them at a close range, 
but I never saw one that a rock or anything else could lay on. 
It would not at all surprise me to hear that those very same ice- 
rafts that Mr. Kane saw are lying in Marshall Bay right now. 
Mr. Kane’s idea was that these ice-rafts in time became stranded 
or struck, and their enormous momentum cut the striae in the 
polished rocks upon the floor of the sea. This, as can be seen, 
is only imaginary. Such ideas as these bring me to the con¬ 
clusion that Mr. Kane, like thousands of others, read of striae 
and cavities in rocks, but had never seen them, for if he did he 
would have certainly known that they could never have been cut 
or worn by the mere bobbing up and down of a stranded iceberg 
that was really as harmless in the matter as its weight in soft 
soap. It is not my desire to remove, or even try to remove, a 
feather from the hat of Captain Kane or any other man, but I 
would rather remove the hat altogether than to have the rising 
and future generations taught to believe that which can be dem¬ 
onstrated and proven to be a delusion. I defy the world to take 
a block of ice, no matter what its size or dimensions, and freeze 
a rock in it for the purpose of cutting cavities in another rock. 
Or they may make an iron tool of whatsoever shape ingenuity 
may suggest, and bolt into this block and float it upon a rock 
selected for the purpose, and give it all the motions they may 
think of, and they cannot cut the simplest cavity, for the reasons 
already stated on preceding pages. I have been a student of 
rocks, as found in rivers, for years when the water was low. I 
have watched the action of the water upon them when the river 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 127 

was high. I have examined the cavities in such rocks after the 
water had receded, and I am confident that I can take water 
with a pressure and cut any kind of a cavity I ever saw, and I 
think I have seen them all—that is, all the varieties. 

Again, if Mr. Kane could tell away off in the far distance 
(which is equivalent to moonlight) greenstone from limestone 
and chlorite slate from other rocks that were ground to powder, 
and distinguish last year’s crop of ice from the one before, he 
must, indeed, have been endowed with eyes far greater than 
other men of his or later times. But here is just where the 
trouble with geology lies—too much of it is seen in the mind or 
far distance—and too much of it written in the parlor. A 
man with imaginary power can write a novel in the parlor, but 
he cannot write geology that way, for it must be traveled for, 
hunted for, and dug for, and well studied besides. 

A man going to the North Pole to-day, and upon his return 
says that he saw nothing but snow and ice, and that it was just 
the same as he saw at home, though it would be the truth, he 
would be looked upon by the world as a mullet-head, and not 
worth the hard-tack, let alone the “lime-juice” he consumed on 
the journey. 

When travelers first went to India, and being pressed upon 
their return for something new or strange, regarding the coun¬ 
try, said that one of the most wonderful things they heard was 
the sun rising in the morning. It made a crackling noise, they 
said,somewhat similar, I suppose, to an Ohio man burning brush 
on a tobacco bed. Yet, after hearing all this, ^when rounding 
the Cape of Good Hope, if they did not encounter the “Flying 
Dutchman” they would be looked upon with disfavor or men not 
fit to go to a new country. 

It is said of a young Irishman who went to Australia in 
early times, and being put through the ordeal of “about-ship” 
nearly every day, and very often twice on Sunday, that when 
he landed in that far-off country the sun seemed to him to rise 
in the west, and he wrote home to his father to that effect. 


128 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

So you see that early travelers, if they wanted to preserve 
their reputations, and keep abreast of the times, had necessarily 
to prepare themselves to relate something wonderful on their 
return, but all these delusive ideas or nonsense have been ex¬ 
ploded years ago, and any one indulging in such fallacies to-day 
should be very careful, however, whom they tell it to or before. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 129 


CHAPTER IX. 

FURTHER OBSERVATIONS OF THE GEOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND. 

Although the mountains were all elevated from the floor of 
the sea, it is very plainly shown by taking the New Zealand 
mountains for a basis that they were not all elevated in the 
same way; that is, some were raised more abruptly than others. 
This is apparent from the fact that we find upon the summits 
of those mountains, their slopes and in the valleys, large 
bowlders, in many instances, that would weigh over a ton, rest¬ 
ing on the bed-rock with so little bearing, and so accurately 
balanced that a man could pry them off with the end of a long- 
handled shovel. But this is not all. I have seen two or three 
rocks resting upon the top of each other in this way, and all 
were loose. The position of these rocks not only rendered the 
impossibility of them holding their places on the slopes of 
mountains raised so abruptly, but it also proves that they must 
have been gently raised by and in the water, the water, in many 
instances, serving as a balancing power. This is supported by 
the finding of such rocks in dry lake-beds that we know were 
raised in and full of water; besides we have other proofs that a 
large portion, if not all, of the Middle Island of New Zealand 
had a steady rise, for where the business part of the city of 


130 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

Dunedin now stands, according to the chart, as I have said be¬ 
fore, Captain Cook sailed over it. Again just outside the city 
limits the land bears such a strong imprint of the sea that on 
a cloudy day a stranger feels like rubbing his eyes to tell whether 
he is looking upon the sea or land. This is found to be the case 
in many parts of the interior of the island. In traveling over 
the country and coming to such places, especially unawares, I 
would be so struck with astonishment that I frequently came to 
a halt in order to fully take in the situation. 

Again we see the same steady rise has taken place in 
Tasman’s Bay. This once large bay, which no doubt existed 
in his day, has dwindled down to a narrow inlet. So this is 
but another of the many overwhelming proofs that the island, 
or a large majority of it, had a steady rise, and it might in truth 
be said to be still on the rise. This steady rise was no doubt 
the cause of those rocks holding their positions, but how they 
could hold them so long in a country like New Zealand, where 
earthquakes of much violence often occur, is a great mystery 
to me. 

In passing over some of the New Zealand mountains, I 
never was too tired to throw off my swag and, taking my long- 
handled shovel, pry off rocks, for no other purpose but to watch 
them roll down the mountain to the valley or creek below, for 
in their downward progress they never failed to dislodge a few 
more rocks from their long resting places, and they in turn 
would knock others off, and by tjie time all reached the vicinity 
of the valley or creek, the scene would very much resemble a 
ten-pin alley on a large scale. 

I shall never forget one evening when several of us were 
traveling together, and among the group was a Dutchman. He 
and I traded duties for the evening, he leading my horse, and 
I carrying his long-handled shovel. We were well up on the 
slope of a very steep mountain, with the Molyneux river run¬ 
ning immediately at its base. Those large bowlders, which I 
have already alluded to, were quite plentiful, and as usual with 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 131 

me, were quite a temptation to pry off, and so I amused 
myself in the work, and took great delight in seeing 
them roll down the mountain and take a great plunge into the 
river below. I remained longer at this work than I intended, 
and inconsequence found myself a long ways behind the other 
men. When I came in sight of them, however, they had 
camped for the night. On examining the end of the shovel 
handle, I found it was, as some people would say, “right 
smartly dented.” I now knew that I was “in for it,” and the 
worst thing was that I could see no hole to crawl out. Knowing 
that every door for retreat had been closed against me, I deter¬ 
mined to make the best of it under the circumstances; so I 
walked up to the men, at the same time keeping as far away 
from the Dutchman as possible. I laid down the shovel, appar¬ 
ently very innocent, but there is no doubt but that my counte¬ 
nance, as is generally the case, conveyed my guilt. I had no 
sooner laid the shovel down than the Dutchman opened up on 
me with full force and vigor. I had often contemplated learn¬ 
ing the Dutch language when opportunity would admit, but I 
got such a dose of it here that I forever abandoned even the idea 
of it. The other “boys” now had the laugh on me; but one 
good thing in my favor was that only one other man in the 
party understood Dutch, and he was rolling upon the grass, 
scarcely able to get up for laughing. The other “boys’” were as 
ignorant of what the Dutchman was saying as I was, but we all 
knew from his looks, motions and by the way his tongue was 
running that I was catching the d—1; but knowing my guilt, 
I had nothing to say in reply. 

But what I wish to say here is, that rolling those rocks down 
the mountain, or carrying or sliding them down, either by 
glaciers or avalanches, does neither water-wear or cut a cavity 
nor groove in them by any means. The fact is, those rocks were 
elevated, as I have said, with the mountain, and there they 
.remain, water-worn prior to being carried or rolled to the valley. 

In regard to bowlders, or erratic rocks, as they are some- 


132 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

times called, being found a long ways from home, there is noth¬ 
ing wonderful or strange about it, and a great many other 
things, provided we only get started right, for there is no doubt 
that, upon the elevation of two parallel ranges, a strong current 
was thrown into the valley between them, be it ever so wide. 
In fact such valleys were really sluice-boxes. The bowlders, in 
some instances rolling down as the mountain rose, and others 
being washed down, from high elevations into those valleys or 
sluice-boxes, were often carried to a great distance by this 
powerful current, or tidal wave, that is known to accompany 
some elevations. This is the cause of erratic rocks or bowlders 
being found a long ways from home or parent rock. From 
what I have seen, it would not surprise me in the least to find 
two sister rocks in valleys on opposite side of a range or 
mountain, because a rock might, and could, be so elevated upon 
the summit of a mountain as to cause it to split or separate, and 
the parts take opposite directions, and be carried at the same 
time to a great distance. Now to show and prove that large 
rocks do roll down from high elevations, I will give an instance 
that happened during my time in New Zealand: 

On a high point of land overlooking a flat that was once a 
part of the bed of Lake Wakatipu, stood a remarkably large rock. 
On this flat, close where the Shotover river passes through it 
and thousands of feet below the rock in question, a groceryman 
opened a store. While he was erecting his building nearly every 
passer-by would say to him, looking up, “Ain’t you afraid of that 
large rock coming down upon you ?” “Oh, no,” said he; “that 
rock has stood there for ages, and it is not likely to come down 
in my time.” One night some time afterwards two or three 
of his “old chums” came late to the store and remained with him 
over night. During the night, however, down came the rock. 
It rolled upon one or two of the men while asleep, while others 
were caught only by the feet or other parts of the body. The 
rock was too large for men to remove, and all that could be done 
by those so fortunate as not to be caught by it, was to dig a 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 133 

tunnel and let the men drop from beneath it. Now this is proof 
that rocks do roll down, and there is not a particle of doubt but 
that a great many large bowlders, as well as small ones, found 
their way into valleys from high elevations in this way, or per¬ 
haps, moved from their resting places by the shock of earth¬ 
quakes; and there is no doubt in my mind that the block of 
granite from which the pedestal of the statue cf Peter the Great, 
was taken, and which every school-boy in the land has heard of, 
found its way into the neighboring marsh in the very same way. 

Again we are informed by geologists that the Jura (a chain 
of mountains I have already alluded to), with an average 
height about one-third that of the Alps, is covered with blocks of 
granite, gneiss and other crystaline formation that came from 
the Alps and that they have been brought for a distance of 
fifty miles and upwards, across one of the widest and deepest 
valleys in the world, so that they are now lodged on the hills 
and valleys of a chain composed of limestone and other forma¬ 
tion altogether distinct from those of the Alps. Their great 
size and angularity, after a journey of so many leagues, have 
justly, it is said, excited wonder. 

All this does really appear wonderful to some men, doubt¬ 
less, but, after all, there is, perhaps, but little in it. Taking the 
general formation of the mountains of New Zealand for exam¬ 
ple, I am satisfied'that the Alps were first elevated. This, as I 
have maintained, threw a mighty current or tidal wave into 
this valley. The large rocks rolling or washing off from the 
Alps (as it could not be otherwise) into this valley or sluice-box 
were, of course, carried to a great distance. This was the prin¬ 
cipal cause of those large bowlders retaining their angularity, 
because they were more carried than rolled. The Jura, at this 
time, had not made its appearance above the level of the valley 
or water-course. This is when and how the bed-rock on the 
summit of this mountain became water-worn and scarified, but 
was afterwards elevated, like all other mountains, to its present 
altitude, with those foreign bowlders or rocks upon its crest, for 


134 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


there is no other way under the sun, save that of elevation, for a 
bowlder to get upon the summit of a mountain, no matter what 
may be said or put forth to the contrary. This is a truth that 
the more man tries to trample upon it the larger it will grow. 

And again geology tells us that “Martha's Vineyard, Rhode 
Island, is covered with rocks derived from the mainland. The 
southern part of Rhode Island is strewn, it is said, with iron ore 
from Iron Hill, Cumberland, R. I. Again that masses of native 
copper from Lake Superior are scattered over Wisconsin, Michi¬ 
gan, and even Ohio and Indiana." But there is nothing won¬ 
derful in all this. It not only proves to us that those rocks and 
copper ore were washed and carried from their native homes by 
water, but it proves unmistakably the direction of the current 
which carried them; the grooves in the rocks also prove this. 

But what has really troubled and perplexed man most on 
this question is the narrow view he takes in regard to the great 
force or power contained in this mighty element—water. In 
fact he appears to have no more idea or conception of its power 
than he has of the great space in the heavens above him. 

A faint idea of the great power of this element was illus¬ 
trated at a place called Wick, on the extreme northeast coast of 
Scotland. Where a breakwater was being built some years ago, 
it was found that stones of ten tons weight were as pebbles to 
the waves which have, in that locality, measured fifty-two feet 
from the crest to the trough. The outer end of the breakwater 
where the storm beat most violently was constructed of three 
courses of 100-ton stones laid on the ruble foundation. Next 
above these were three courses of large flat stones, and upon 
them a mass of concrete, built on the spot, of cement and ruble. 
The end of the breakwater was thought to be as immovable as 
the natural rock itself, yet the resident engineer saw it yield to 
the force of the waves and swing around into the troubled waters 
inside the pier. It gave way, not in fragments, but in one mass, 
as if it had been a monolith. The displaced mass was estimated 
to weigh 1,850 tons. Here we have it demonstrated that what 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 135 

we might say was a solid rock of 1,850 tons tossed about in the 
waves as a common bowlder. (This rock being tossed about in 
this way by the waves, should convince the weakest mind that 
a stratum of coal could never have been lowered into the sea 
and held its position under such power.) How often are ships 
of the greatest burden cast upon rocks or thrown upon land by 
mighty waves with as much ease seemingly as though they were 
merely corkwood. 

Again, we have had the power of water demonstrated to 
us a short time ago in a small but appalling way in the Johns¬ 
town (Pa.) flood, where strong houses were no more than 
pebbles in the water, and where thirty-two railroad locomotives, 
comprising an immense weight, were washed from the round 
house, and so quickly that a by-stander could scarcely tell ho^v 
it was done, and had it not been for the well-known railroad 
bridge that crossed the Conemaugh at the lower part of Johns¬ 
town it is more than probable that little of the remains of the 
demolished city would have been found in the State of Pennsyl¬ 
vania at all; and still we are not informed that a glacier, an ice- 
plow or an iceberg was even in sight, or in the State of Pennsyl¬ 
vania at the time. Although this flood almost astonished and 
shocked the world, yet in point of mighty water power it was 
no more to a tidal wave or the great current that was thrown 
into those valleys by the elevation of mountains, and especially 
parallel ranges, than a bucket of water would be to the vast 
waters of the oceans. Thus again it is easily seen how rocks 
become strewn upon land far from their native places. 

A few years ago a bowlder weighing 200 pounds was found 
in the middle, it is said, of a coal seam at Shawnee, Ohio. 
Some of our wise or great men said it must have been dropped 
by an iceberg. Now we have here, not only the great power of 
water just illustrated to us in a small way, but we have the 
Banshee idea, which even professional men hold in regard to 
icebergs at the present time. In fact they will almost have us 
believe that an iceberg in olden times was as handy to carry 


136 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

great burdens as an elephant is to-day at a Ceylon hotel. This 
bowlder in question is said to be in the museum at Columbus, 
Ohio, and it is also said by this wise man to show marks of 
glaciation. These so-called marks of glaciation upon a rock are 
something I very much want to see, as I never saw one; and I 
am also anxious to know what caused them, and how we are to 
know them when we see them. 

Suppose the Ohio river becomes frozen up in winter, as it 
often does, and that cobble-stones from its bed become frozen 
or imbedded in the ice, and that rocks from the banks roll 
down upon it and all become frozen or blended together. After¬ 
wards a thaw comes and this combination is borne down upon 
the crest of the water southward to where a more temperate 
climate prevails, there to thaw or melt away, and the rocks to 
return to the river from whence they came, are we to understand 
that those rocks are to be known in the future as glacial rocks 
simply because they were carried in or on the ice? If so, 
where are the marks of glaciation, or how are we to distin¬ 
guish them from other rocks in the river ? It can’t be done, for 
we must not overlook the fact that a rock frozen or imbedded 
in ice cannot turn in it any more than the ice can, and unless 
it does somewhat after the style of a buzz-saw it can in nowise 
become a cobblestone. This is sufficient to prove that ice never 
made a cobblestone. 

Again, suppose that a dog would worry and kill a cat upon 
this ice, or a dead cat be thrown upon it, and it should become 
imbedded in the ice and be carried to the more genial waters 
of the South and there thaw out, is the cat to be then known as 
a glacial cat, as the rock is a glacial rock? When returning 
from Australia, in the neighborhood of the Falkland Islands 
we came in sight of a huge iceberg, and from its size it might 
well be called a daisy, although it did not smell like one. Well 
up on it we could see what appeared to the naked eye black spots. 
Upon inquiry what those spots were, those with glasses said 
that they were seals, or what they supposed to be seals. If such 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 137 

they were, should they not be glacial seals, and why should there 
not be glacial sealskin coats, if everything that is carried on ice 
becomes glacial? I wish it noted right here that there was 
nothing on this iceberg within reach of the swell of the sea, and 
there can be no doubt but what it will be found so in every case. 
Those seals, or whatever they may have been, were high and dry, 
and apparently as free from water as though on dry land. So 
that it is here demonstrated that the assumption that rocks were 
water-worn, or could be water-worn upon any part of an iceberg 
is simply bosh! 

Now, I am not a betting man, but this fact may be partly 
d ne, as some have said, to a lack of a surplus; still, in the absence 
of mone}^ I will lay my head down against a single copper that 
the man does not live that can or could produce a glacial rock. 
It is a humbug and a delusion; it is like the balance of the ice¬ 
berg theory—a cross between the Flying Dutchman and the 
Banshee. Now I don’t want to be understood as making this 
assertion in the nature of a bluff, for certainly I am not. I 
want every one possessing one of these rocks laid away to come 
forward (the nineteenth century is certainly high time) with it 
regardless of the result. Ah, I am not afraid, for I well know 
that should 1 live until some one brings to light one of these 
rocks, that I would be among the living when old Gabriel blowed 
his trumpet, for they simply never existed. Another theory 
that this wise man had that the Shawnee rock had been 
dropped by an iceberg was “because water was there;” as much 
as to say that no rain fell on the American continent prior to 
the landing of Columbus. Now I would like for him or any 
other man to prove to the world by any means the time when 
water did not exist on our earth, for we find among the first 
things recorded in the Bible that “the spirit of God moved upon 
the face of the waters;” (you will take notice here that it did 
not move upon icebergs) and we are here truthfully informed 
by the Word of God that water was one of our first elements. 
But if we even cast the Word of God aside, water will prove 


138 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

vrr m rj 

itself to be one of the first elements; for if we go down to the 
greatest depths we see it there, or it has been there; and if 
we ascend to the tops of the highest mountains, we see there its 
handiwork, and the question arises, where shall we go that it 
is not in some way staring us in the face? Not a sedimentary 
rock was made without it; not a rock was worn without it; not 
an iceberg was formed without it. It was water that nourished 
and sustained our great vegetable kingdoms; it was water that 
leveled the land, and made it habitable and capable of sustaining 
man and beast; and if it was not for water our earth to-day 
would be a blank. Looking, then, over the whole field, it is 
evident that water was not only one of the first elements, but 
the most ingenious; but man, through his narrow-mindedness, 
misrepresentations, false conclusions and assumption, has been 
trying for centuries to rob it of its power and ingenuity and 
bestow the praise upon the iceberg—a thing that has not, nor 
never had, any more science than a log. 

DRY LAKE BEDS AND THEIR CAUSE. 

Along the course of the Molyneux river (reference to which 
lias been made before) were once several small lakes, but whose 
beds are now dry. These lakes or basins were formed, as any 
one can see, by the natural formation of the land, caused un¬ 
doubtedly by its elevation along the west bank of the Cowarra 
river, which is the outlet of Lake Wakatipu to where it empties 
into the Molyneux, a continuation of a broken range. From 
this point a range on the west bank of the river runs parallel 
with it. Southward to the sea, along the course of the river, 
on its eastern side at intervals of eight or ten miles a range 
runs in an east and west direction, terminating and forming 
a junction with the range running southward. This naturally 
formed small lakes or basins which were raised from the floor 
of the sea full of water. The land being more, or probably 
becoming more elevated, toward the north, caused the water 
to leave the southward and hunt a depression or outlet. This 
they must have found at the junction of those two mountains. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 139 

for the river has cut or worn its way down at this place every 
time, and it has not only cut its way in solid rock through those 
ranges, but has formed mighty rapids and gorges, the result of 
which has drained those lakes, and it has also cut and lowered 
its bed or channel some twenty-five feet below the lake beds. 
The reason that those lake beds or flats being largely on the east 
bank of the river was caused by the river, as a general thing, 
hugging, as it were, the range running southward. 

And further, in passing over Colorado, Utah, Arizona, 
Nevada and some other Western States, I have taken notice to 
a great many valleys and flats that were at one time undoubtedly 
lakes, and, although larger than those of New Zealand, bore 
a similarity to the latter, and the land no doubt was elevated 
in the same manner as in New Zealand, it becoming more 
elevated to the north, causing the waters in those lakes or de¬ 
pressions, like those in New Zealand, to hunt an outlet, and this 
they found where the present great canyons of the west stand 
to-day as monuments to this truth, the size and their depth 
corresponding to the amount of water that passed or flowed 
through them, for there is no doubt but that these canyons were 
the doors or arteries by which those lakes were bled. And to 
say that they were cut or worn by ice in any shape whatever is 
an insult to reason. 

With regard to the age of these great canyons, it is reason¬ 
able to suppose that a measurement of their great depths would 
indicate their ages, or the time it took to wear them to their pres¬ 
ent depths. There is no doubt in my mind but what their ages 
could be closely ascertained in this way, provided, that proper 
allowance be made, but this would be the most difficult part to 
get at. If the depths of one of these canyons be taken to-day, 
and again a year or two hence, and a calculation made based on 
the difference of the two measurements, would that indicate the 
true time*it took to cut or wear them to their present depth? 
No, it would bear no relation, I might say, to the truth. And 
why? Because two of the most essential parts absolutely nec- 


140 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

essary to make the calculation were overlooked or not taken into 
consideration, and they are, surroundings and fall. Now 
what were their surroundings? Well, at the time water began 
to flow or run down those canyons all the neighboring valleys 
or plains (which were then actually lakes) were overflowing 
with water, all of which passed through them, and as the water 
wore or cut its way down through these canyons it naturally 
increased its fall until finally terminating in a mighty torrent, 
carrying rocks, gravel and sand with it to lower ground. So 
it is safe to say that there was a time in the history of those 
canyons when they lowered their beds more in one year than 
they would in a thousand at the rate they are doing to-day, be¬ 
cause their surroundings and the water now flowing through 
them have entirely changed. By this we can see that it would 
be a most difficult matter to make a calculation that would come 
anywhere near the truth in regard to the time required to cut 
or wear one of these canyons. In fact it cannot be done. 

Again, the fall of rivers or canyons has as much to do with 
the cutting or lowering of their beds as the quantity of water 
that flows through them, for a river or canyon with a great fall, 
it matters not whether in solid rock or not, increases its cutting 
or lowering power to an enormous extent, as it prevents the 
water from spreading, thereby keeping it in more narrow 
bounds, and throwing the wear and tear entirely upon their 
floor, or channel, causing the entire tendency downward. Take 
the rivers of Northern California, for instance, and it is safe to 
say that there is as much water flowing in them to-day as any 
time during their existence, because they are principally fed by 
snow-water and not by lakes. Yet there was a time, owing to 
their greater fall, when they lowered their beds fifty, and I 
might say, a hundred, yes a thousand per cent, more than they 
are now doing. Here, in my opinion, is where geologists have 
made mistakes in regard to thg age of our earth. They haven’t 
made, nor is there any way for them to make, the necessary 
allowance for the wear and tear of the rocks, upon which they 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 141 

base their calculations. They are more than likely to make, and 
no doubt have made, it appear that the earth is millions of years 
older than what it is. But still, if their calculations are not 
edifying, they look well on paper. 

The same mistake is made in regard to the growth of bogs, 
taking this isolated German bog (before referred to) as a stand¬ 
ard for their growth. 

“The amount of vegetable matter in a single coal seam six 
inches thick is greater than the most luxuriant vegetation of 
the present day would furnish in 1,200 years.”—Boussingault’s 
calculation. This is what might be called a “mid-air calcula¬ 
tion” or assumption, that is too frequently met with in geology. 
It has nothing to stand upon, hold by or lean against, conse¬ 
quently it will vanish before thought as a feather would before 
a cyclone. In fact there is not any more reason or common 
sense in this calculation, I care not by whom the calculation 
was made, than there is in me making the assertion that the 
moon was made of Sweitzer cheese, taking as the basis of my 
argument that the moon looked like a Dutchman. 

Boussingault thus asserts: “That luxuriant vegetation at 
the present day takes from the atmosphere about a half a ton of 
carbon per acre annually, or about fifty tons per acre in a cen¬ 
tury. Fifty tons of stone coal spread evenly over an acre of 
surface would make a layer less than one-third of an inch thick; 
but suppose it to be half an inch, then the time necessary or re¬ 
quired for the accumulation of a seam of coal three feet thick, 
the thinnest that can be worked to advantage, would be 7,200 
years, and if the aggregate thickness of all the seams in any 
basin amounts to sixty feet the time required for its accumu¬ 
lation would be 144,000 years. In the coal measures of Nova 
Scotia are seventy-six seams of coal, of which one is twenty-two 
feet thick and another thirty-seven .”—WinchelVs Geological 
Sketches. 

Now let us review Mr. WinchelFs sketches for a moment 
and see what there is in them,'or what is to be learned from 


142 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


them. In the first place we are told that six inches of coal is 
greater than the most luxuriant growth of vegetation at the 
present time would furnish in 1,200 years. Here we are left 
in the dark at the start, for he does not tell us what class of coal 
he refers to, nor to the class of vegetation he has reference to, as 
the vegetable kingdom is composed of many varieties. But I 
will say that if he has reference to what I call, and what may 
rightly be called, our common vegetation which only survives for 
a season or summer, his calculation is entirely too small, for, 
instead of the words 1,200 years, he should have used the word 
never; for this class of vegetation (as I have already plainly 
demonstrated) never did, nor never can produce a stratum of 
coal, I care not how thick or how thin, nor can it amount to 
anything more than to enrich the soil, because it lacks adhesive¬ 
ness. This great depth of black soil we find to-day in the 
Western States is an illustration, or rather the result of this 
class of vegetation. So we can never hope to know that coal is 
produced in this way. 

But let us take a forest of timber and allow it seven hundred 
years to grow and five hundred years to become imbedded and 
changed into coal, making 1,200 in all, which I think is ample 
time for the timber to grow, fall and be changed into coal; but 
if it should not be long enough we could throw in another hun¬ 
dred years. Now in this way we could have a stratum of bitum¬ 
inous coal three feet and over in twelve or thirteen hundred 
years, which, according to Boussingault’s calculation would take 
7,200 years. I want it understood here, however, that we are 
not to overlook the fact that a stratum of bituminous coal thirty 
or even sixty feet thick or more did not take any more time to 
produce than a stratum three feet thick, for its depth depended 
altogether on the growth of the timber which produced it and 
not upon its age, for those mammoth forest trees of California, 
Oregon and Australia are not perhaps any older than some of 
those in Ohio, yet as far as growth is concerned there is no com¬ 
parison between them. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 143 


The same is true of the peat bogs, for their growth depends 
altogether upon their surroundings and location; and their 
depth cannot be taken as a standard of their age any more than 
the age of a little man should necessarily be less than that of a 
large man. 

As Winchell has said that, “if the aggregate thickness of all 
seams of coal in any basin amounts to sixty feet, the time for 
its accumulation would be 144,000 years,” we can readily see 
that he based this calculation on the assumed time it took to 
produce the three-foot stratum, or he must have taken the latter 
stratum as a basis for his great calculation without any refer¬ 
ence whatever, either to the vegetation or its growth which pro¬ 
duced it, and which is a most essential point. Now we are left 
here again in the dark, for we are not told whether it was bitu¬ 
minous or anthracite coal he refers to, or whether it was a mix¬ 
ture of both. This is important; but as geology was brought 
forth and fostered in the lap of imagination, it would be unrea¬ 
sonable to expect anything definite. Now if Winchell had refer¬ 
ence to anthracite coal, the bogs that produce it must have neces¬ 
sarily grown on the spot; and the man never was born who 
could have any idea of the time it took to produce them, from 
the fact all depended, as I have already said, upon the growth 
of the vegetation, which he in no way is capable of knowing. 
But if it was bituminous coal, the wood which produced it may 
have grown in the basin and it may not have grown there, 
There is no doubt but that a large amount of wood has been de¬ 
posited in basins by floods in the form of eddies where a stick of 
timber never grew. I noted this fact in the lignite vein in New 
Zealand. So that a great many strata, and some of great depth, 
no doubt were, and could be formed in basins in a comparatively 
short time in this way. Floods carrying timber are no new 
thing. They have done so ever since timber was growing. We 
see our rivers full of it frequently every big flood, and there 
may be such a thing that some southern coal fields have been 
formed by timber carried down the Ohio. 


144 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

We are also informed that in the coal measures of Nova 
Scotia there are seventy-six seams of coal, of which one is 
twenty-two feet thick and another thirty-seven feet thick. 
Well, suppose that all those seventy-six seams would run some¬ 
what on the same ratio as the sixty feet he has referred to, how 
many years would it take according to Boussingault’s imaginary 
method of calculation to produce them? Why it would take 
millions of years! Yet, if the whole truth was known it would 
be found that it was all accomplished within perhaps the last 
five or six thousand years. When a man sees and knows that he 
suffered from one cause, why will he argue and uphold that he 
suffered from another? Just so it is in regard to our coal 
strata. We see in lignite veins (bituminous coal in its infancy) 
where trees have laid, and all that remains of them is a chunk 
or knot, the balance being changed or metamorphosed into coal. 
But we not only find them very often in lignite veins, but we 
find them very often in old bituminous coal strata, and even 
trunks of trees; besides we find these coal strata surrounded by 
the leaves of the fern and the forest trees, proving unmistakably 
that forests were there. Now we know perfectly well that 
neither forests nor ferns ever grew in the sea; in fact, it is be¬ 
yond all reason. And we also know that when peat-bogs are 
pressed and baked that it will burn the same as our hard or stone 
coal; still, in the face of all these living facts, our professional 
men will turn their backs on them and attribute those coal strata 
to the most ridiculous thing or cause that is possible for tiiem to 
think of, even down to the influence of a comet’s tail. 

Again, the growth of accumulation must be taken into con¬ 
sideration, for it is well known that the accumulation is greater 
in a temperate or wet climate than it is in a dry one. For in¬ 
stance, if such structures as the Pyramids of Egypt had been 
built in Eastern Ohio at the same time as in Egypt, they would 
have been gone from sight centuries ago, how would this be? 
Because the accumulation by the growth of vegetation or vege¬ 
table matter, and the great drainage carrying with it the wear 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 145 

and tear of both land and rock southward necessarily increased 
accumulation in this direction; so it is safe that the accumula¬ 
tion in parts of British America is a thousand times greater 
than what it would be in a dry country or at the Equator. So 
geologists are as liable to get left or make a mistake on the 
growth of coal strata, and the accumulation thereon, as they are 
in the time it took to cut or wear our rocks and canyons by 
water. 

It is the opinion of a great many men that the great tract 
of land lying east of the Rocky Mountains to the Alleghenies 
was at one time a sheet of water. This I believe to be true, as 
the general formation of the land proves it; besides we have the 
lakes, which are only a residue of the same. These lakes are 
similar to those now existing in New Zealand, and the only 
thing that will keep or preserve them from becoming extinct will 
be the lack of fall. 

Now what caused the water to abandon or recede from all 
this vast territory in question? Just the same agency that 
caused the water to abandon the lake beds of Colorado, Utah, 
Nevada and those of New Zealand—simply the elevation of the 
land, thus causing a better drainage. This better drainage was 
evidently produced from one of two causes: that is, the land 
was either elevated towards the north or depressed towards the 
south. But as the land appears to have been filled up towards 
the south, would rather favor the impression that the land be¬ 
came further elevated towards the north. Southeastern Ohio 
was among the first places in the State to lift its head above 
water. Forests grew, died and formed those strata of bitumin¬ 
ous coal lying to-day beneath our feet long before the land in 
the western *nd northwestern parts of the State made their ap¬ 
pearance above water. Had it been otherwise these parts of 
the State would have had as much coal as the eastern part. The 
lack of coal shows plainly the lingering of the waters, preventing 
the growth of timber. The land was comparatively level, per¬ 
haps similar to the northwestern part of the State to-day, and 


146 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

remained so until long after the formation of the coal strata. 
Man has nothing to assume upon this question, for the forma¬ 
tion of the land upon which the coal strata lie proves itself to 
have been so beyond all question. It is true that there are rises 
and depressions known among miners as horsebacks in the land 
which those coal strata rest upon, but nothing to be compared 
with the ups and downs of a stratum formed upon the surface 
to-day. 

What caused the land in Southeastern Ohio to become so 
irregular upon the surface? Becatise as soon as the waters be¬ 
gan to recede southward, it gave to the land a better drainage, 
and thus conducting the water into narrower bounds, the result 
of which formed the Ohio river. The Ohio, now having or re¬ 
ceiving all the drainage, naturally became a power within itself, 
lowering its bed or channel day by day until finally the river 
became what it now is. As the river lowered its channel its 
tributaries, as a natural consequence, lowered theirs in propor¬ 
tion. The land now has a double form of drainage; that is, it 
drains toward the river and toward its tributaries as well. The 
result of this form of drainage was no doubt the cause of the 
irregularity of the ground. So it is easily seen that Eastern 
Ohio was not naturally so irregular, but was made so by the 
form of drainage. 

A good illustration of how the Ohio river and its tributaries 
lowered their channels can be seen in what is known as the 
Leatherwood valley lying immediately southwest of Barnesville, 
Ohio. This valley, like parts of the Ohio river, appears to have 
had at one time an elevation almost if not equal to the ranges 
on either side of it. The valley becoming every year more and 
more depressed, partly by spring water and snow water and 
partly through drainage from' higher elevations. This combina¬ 
tion kept on in its work until we find now the bed of the creek 
in a great measure far below what is known as the second 
stratum of coal. The coal strata upon either side of this creek 
or valley, as well as other valleys we see, are upon a level, which 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 147 

also proves that the ground upon which they were formed were 
level or nearly so. 

Another question arising just here is, what has become of 
the millions of acres of coal that have been taken out or washed 
out of all the rivers, creeks and valleys of Eastern Ohio, West 
Virginia and Pennsylvania? Did they go southward in order 
to build more strata of coal there ? Oh, no; for although it was 
moved or carried southward by great floods, they went there not 
to build strata of coal, but to be lost forever in the progress of 
accumulation. Traces of this coal wash, however, may be found 
to-day upon some of the southern fields and be mistaken by some 
as an indication of coal. This is just the way that all coal 
strata would have done if they had ever come in contact with 
the mighty waters of the ocean. 

Another proof of the lowering of rivers and their tribu¬ 
taries is to be seen on a grand scale in Sierra and Nevada coun¬ 
ties, California, where, at one time, ran one of the richest gold- 
bearing rivers in the State, if not in the world. This river, as 
I was informed, by old miners when I was there a few years ago, 
took its rise somewhere in the extreme northern part of the 
State, and had an average fall of fifteen feet to the mile. Its 
course was along where the small mining camp of Allegheny 
now stands, and a portion of the river is still preserved at this 
place by a spur of the mountain crossing it at right angles. 
This spur, I was told, was of a volcanic origin, and there is no 
doubt but that it ran in a liquid state from a volcano higher 
up on the range or mountain. The altitude of this spur above 
the bed of the river is about 600 feet and probably is from one to 
three miles wide, which would indicate that the eruption upon 
the volcanic mountain must have been very great. A similar 
case of this ancient creek is found at Balaraat, Australia. I 
stood upon an old shaft there I was informed was five hundred 
feet deep, costing about forty thousand pounds sterling to sink 
it. The Canacka creek at this place appears to have been, and 
no doubt was, a small tributary or feeder to this river, although 


148 SOME MEMORIES OP A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

it now seems to be running two or three hundred feet below the 
town, or former bed of this ancient river. The Yubas also ap¬ 
pear to have been feeders to this river, and apparently are run¬ 
ning to some extent in its ancient course or bed, and like the 
Canacka creek, are running at a great depth below the old bed. 
What makes this more wonderful is, when we take into consid¬ 
eration that those streams, like the canyons of Colorado, have 
cut or worn their channel to this great depth almost or entirely 
through solid rock. Now there are two causes for this. In the 
first place when this golden river was in the “zenith of her 
glory” it occupied a much lower altitude than even its successors 
or tributaries do at the present time; that is, the Sierra Nevada 
range was not as high in those days as it is now by a long ways, 
and there is no doubt but when the great eruption took place 
which formed the spur in question, the Sierra Nevada range 
took its final rise or present elevation. This elevation gave to 
those streams a better drainage and a greater fall, 
and was one of the principal causes of the streams 
lowering their beds or channels. In the second 
place, the elevation of the range not only changed the topo¬ 
graphical feature of the country, but changed the climate as 
well, inasmuch as it raised the land from a moderate elevation 
(as is rather proven by the fall of this ancient river mentioned) 
to that on a line with perpetual snow. This range now becoming 
imbedded in snow the greater portion of the year, and the melt¬ 
ing of which naturally caused, and does cause, an immense 
quantity of water to flow into the streams below. The streams 
being almost entirely rock-bound, kept the water confined to a 
limited space, and gave them a nature somewhat like that of a 
sluice-box. The rocks and wash carried down the streams, with 
this great combination of fall and force of water was the sole 
cause, not only of those streams lowering their channels, but the 
great canyons of the west as well. 

That these rivers did and do act as sluice-boxes is demon¬ 
strated by the fact that along the gravel banks of this ancient 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 149 

river, from Nevada City to the town of Allegheny are tons of 
gold, yet miners are prohibited from washing it ont lest the 
tailings or drift should be carried down by the rivers and depos¬ 
ited upon the farming lands in the Sacramento valley, thereby 
injuring their neighbors—a thing not allowed according to the 
law of the State. This is proof in itself that not only the Sacra¬ 
mento valley was largely or entirely made up from the wash or 
drift mentioned, and according to their depth and size it must 
have been immense, but the valley received the greater portion 
of its gold from them as well. 

Now the rivers of Northern California have lowered their 
channels the same way that rivers in New Zealand have done; 
the same as the great canyons in the west have done, and just 
the same way the Ohio river has done, but the latter has lowered 
its bed in a more moderate way, simply through lack of fall, and 
by the river having room to spread, for it is well known that 
when a stream has room to spread that as a general thing it 
lowers its bed or channel very slowly. 

All that vast quantity of water once lying between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Alleghenies, as can be seen, moved 
southward. This, together with the general drainage of the 
land, naturally carried with it an enormous quantity of wash or 
drift, which was deposited on the newly forming land of the 
south just as the wash taken out of the rivers in Northern 
California was deposited in the Sacramento valley. This drift, 
in passing over rocks, wore them—some with scratches, some 
with grooves and some with caves. There is no doubt, either, 
that the material that was washed out of the Ohio river by the 
lowering of its channels with the channels of its tributaries, lent 
a strong hand in the make-up of some southern fields. This 
copper ore from Lake Superior that is said to be scattered over 
some of the western and northwestern States was also carried by 
the natural drainage of the land in this way, and gives us to-day 
a true knowledge of the direction of the current. But geologists 
overlook this fact and attribute the whole thing, in their assum- 


150 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

ing way, to the mythical glacier and iceberg, and there can be 
nothing more absurd than the idea that glaciers and icebergs 
could pick up drift, let alone carry it, for all nature is governed 
by a law. Water runs down hill, but it would be contrary to 
nature’s law for water to run up hill. A whale is so constructed 
as to be able to move in water, but its construction will not 
enable it to cross over land. An iceberg not only owes its exist¬ 
ence and movement to water, but it is like a log; it must either 
float upon the crest of the water or it will not float at all, and it 
is entirely too high-minded to stoop so low as to pick up sand or 
gravel on its way. The drainage being southward, naturally cut 
the striae in rocks in that direction, and gave rise to the theory 
that this was the course of the glacier. In the case of the Con¬ 
necticut river, however, the geologists became somewhat mixed; 
but to get out of their dilemma they say the Connecticut valley 
must have had an independent glacier of its own. Now, if the 
gods of old made a glacier for the sole purpose of plying in the 
Connecticut valley, they must have had more love for it than peo¬ 
ple in general give them credit for. But let us suppose such to be 
the case, the question is, where did all these glaciers, icebergs 
and ice-plows come in, if it be true that they invaded the land, 
carrying destruction with them, as geologists say they did? 
Why don’t they point out their course, inward as well as out¬ 
ward ? Ah, this is something they cannot do; it is even beyond 
their imagination. What debars or prevents the geologist from 
answering this question is, that the rivers flow outward and not 
inward. What a great pity it is, then, for his sake, that a 
stream from the coast did not flow to the interior of the conti¬ 
nent ; then he could have answered the question easily. But the 
fact of the matter is that geologists are entirely lost here, as 
well as at many other places which expose or lay bare the fallacy 
of the whole matter. 

Hitchcock, in speaking of those striae, says: "In general 
they do not alter their course for any topographical feature of 
the country; they cross valleys at every conceivable angle, and 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 151 


even if the striae run in a valley for some distance, when the 
valley curves the striae will leave it and ascend mountains even 
thousands of feet high. But these striae are never found upon 
the south sides of mountains, unless for a part of the way where 
the slope is small. Mt. Monadnoc, New Hampshire, is an illus¬ 
tration of these statements. It is a naked mass of mica schist 
3,250 feet high, rising like a cone out of an undulating country, 
and from top to bottom it has been scarified on its northern and 
western sides, indicated by striae running up the mountain, at 
first southeasterly and at the top a S. 10 deg. E. there are deep 
furrows and other phenomena on the summit, and the striae ex¬ 
tend a short distance up the southern slope of the mountain/ 5 

Now Mr. Hitchcock is like the generality of geologists; 
that is, he makes the attack and falls back without giving any 
explanation or cause why the striae run up hill or why there is 
more of them on the north and western sides than there is upon 
the south side. If there was a glacier made for running in the 
Connecticut valley, why was there not one made for running up 
Mt. Monadnoc? We can see here, also, that geology as it is 
taught to-day is hard to understand, for at one time we have gla¬ 
ciers running in water courses, another time running up the 
mountain, at another time on top of the mountain, and at an¬ 
other time jumping over creeks without any law apparently to 
govern them. Can it be possible that there was once a time 
when water, glaciers and ice-plows ran up hill? Oh, no; they 
are governed by the same great law of nature to-day that they 
were at the dawn of their existence. 

Now I do not know any more about Mt. Monadnoc, in a 
manner speaking, than I do about the man in the moon; but as 
much as I can learn about the mountain from geology I am led 
to believe that it bears a similarity to the Jura, and from this 
conclusion, coupled with what I know and what I have seen, 1 
fully say that the grooves and cavities upon the summit of the 
New Hampshire mountain, w^ere worn or cut like all other 
mountains—that is, when its summit were on a level with the 


152 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

valley or water course prior to and before their elevation. Its 
sides being scarified from bottom to top proves its elevation to 
have been slow, allowing the water time to wear and scarify the 
rocks as they rose; the stride or grooves being cut on the north 
and western sides also prove conclusively that the stream or cur¬ 
rent that cut them was at the time running southeast or in a 
southward direction, and as the mountain rose the larger portion 
of the stream was thrown on its western side. This would ac¬ 
count for its being more worn on that side than upon its eastern 
side. This is nothing strange—it is natural. I have pointed 
out before that a rock standing in a stream or water course run¬ 
ning, say south, will seldom, if ever, have a cavity cut or worn 
upon its southern side, although it may have a cavity or grooves 
upon either of its other three sides, according to its position, 
unless where the rock formed a suction or whirlpool. In this 
case it may show water marks all around. In regard to the 
striae crossing the creek, as they appeared to Mr. Hitchcock 
to have done, the creek simply crossed them, because they ex¬ 
isted before the creek did, the topographical features of the 
land being somewhat changed by the elevation. 

Another thing I have paid particular attention to, and that 
is hanging rocks. These rocks are generally found along the 
banks of rivers and ancient water courses. They are found to 
lean towards the stream or its source, and were undoubtedly 
cut or worn in this shape or form by receding waters, and the 
slower this element receded the more leaning the rocks became. 
We can also see large rocks standing in streams and even on hill¬ 
tops resting on very small foundations that were worn by water 
in a similar manner. A rock of this class can be seen at any 
time a short distance southeast of Barnesville, Ohio, and is known 
by the unique name of the “DeViTs Tea Table.” This rock in 
question is of a sandstone formation and was undoubtedly 
formed out of the ridge where it stands; that is to say, it never 
was carried. It stands about nine feet high. The circumfer¬ 
ence of top or largest part is about thirty feet and gradually 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 153 

tapers down to about fifteen feet at the base. Although this 
rock stands upon a ridge apparently as high as any in the 
neighborhood, yet it was worn by an active stream of water at 
one time, just as sure as it stands to-day upon the ridge. This 
fact cannot be disputed, as the rock bears the unmistakable im¬ 
print of that element from top to bottom now. It is true that 
this rock was worn by water for the reason given, and it is 
equally true that it could not have been worn by this element 
unless the surrounding country, as I have already asserted, had 
been comparatively level and yet possessed of a considerable 
fall. This fact is rather proven by the rock itself, because its 
base or stem is waterworn almost round, showing that it formed 
or generated an eddy or suction in the current causing the water 
to circulate around the rock, wearing it in the above form. 
This circulation it is evident could not have taken place in dead 
or inactive water. 

Although there may appear to be little in the above rock to 
the majority of those who visit it beyond a simple curiosity, yet 
to the thoughtful there is a grand lesson to be learned from it, 
inasmuch as it not only carries them back for centuries, but it 
shows them the great and wonderful changes that have taken 
place in the topographical feature of the country during that 
time. Besides it proves to us that the ridge or land upon which 
this rock stands had, as a necessity, been nine feet or more 
higher than what it is at the present time. Had this not been 
the case it is evident that this rock could not have been formed. 

When we ascend one of those ridges and take an extensive 
view of the surrounding country and see how high some of them 
stand above the valleys it appears almost incredible to believe 
that there was a time when all the land in sight was on a level. 
But such unmistakably was the case, as water always writes with 
an indelible hand. Some people might say or imagine, how¬ 
ever, that those ridges might have been further elevated than 
the valleys. Had that been the case, there must have been a 
corresponding break in the coal and other strata that - underlie 


154 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

them. But such is not the case, which further proves that those 
valleys were washed out by continual floods. When we take, 

then, into consideration the enormous amount of work that has 
been performed by water in .this case alone and the time re¬ 
quired to do it, we can readily see that those waterworn and 
scarified rocks that we run against upon the summit of ridges 
is worthy of more consideration or thought than a passing re¬ 
mark. 

In parts of England and in many other parts of the world 
are also found extremely large .rocks resting on remarkable 
small foundations, so much so that like the “Devil's Tea Table,” 
already mentioned, they excite wonder, but there is really, to 
my mind, no wonder about them, from the fact that those rocks 
were worn in the manner described. 

Nature is much like a book; it requires a man not only to 
open his eyes to read it, but he has to study it as well. For those 
who pay attention it is a very easy matter for them to tell the 
difference between the work of water and that of man, as it is 
plain to be seen that man from the earliest day to the present 
time has always understood the necessity of a solid foundation 
to all his structures. Ancient buildings tell us this—in fact, the 
Pyramids of Egypt alone will explain the whole matter. Now if 
those Pyramids had been formed by nature and not by man they 
would just have been reversed; that is, their base or larger part 
would have been on top, and the top or smaller part on the bot¬ 
tom, for the reason already given; for although water neither 
works to a line nor a plummet, yet it gets its deadly work in all 
the same, and in such a manner that no one need be mistaken. 

Another proof that it was water that cut those grooves or 
striae in the rocks is shown by geology itself, for it informs us 
that near the seashore, at Portland, Maine, the striae in the rocks 
run parallel with the shore for some distance, and then disap¬ 
pears in the water. Now I never saw this, but I know from ob¬ 
servations I have made, from whence the cause comes. This 
cause I claim was that at that time, if not at the present, points of 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 155 

land that stood prominently in the neighborhood, the waves 
striking them with great force, formed an eddy, or back current, 
which ran along the shore as long as it had vitality or power to 
do so, cutting stria? in the rocks as it passed along (just as it did 
in the Connecticut valley and in every other valley or water¬ 
course upon the face of the globe). And when it became ex¬ 
hausted by coming in contact with other waters running in an 
opposite direction it returned to the sea from whence it came, 
thus accounting for the grooves in the rocks running parallel 
with the coast and turning into the sea. I have had this fact 
demonstrated to me time and again, by taking notice of rocks 
standing in rivers possessing a great fall. In low water they 
would form little or no eddy, but when floods came the eddy or 
back current formed by them would extend for a considerable 
distance, cutting striae in the rocks that constituted their banks 
as it passed along. So it will again be seen that the back cur¬ 
rent or eddy not only wears grooves, but the length they extend 
along the coast or river banks depends upon the force of the 
water that struck the rock that formed or produced them. In 
this way there is no doubt but eddies are formed and currents 
diverted by coming in contact with elevations upon the floor of 
the sea. Those points of land along a seacoast do not wear away 
as fast as might be expected, for the reason that, as the sea 
strikes them an eddy or back current is formed that wears into 
the mainland in about the same proportions as it wears away 
the point of land; or, in other words, it is like the snail going 
up the tree so much in the night and coming down so much in 
the day. As I passed Wilson's Cape, Australia, the action of 
the waves upon it rather convinced me of this fact. 

It is a very plain case that all those notches that are to be 
seen along the coast of New England, or along any other coast, 
for that matter, which are attributed to icebergs by geologists, 
were all, with the exception of water courses, worn by eddies or 
reverse currents, generated by the sea striking points of land 
(as I have shown). The striae or grooves in the rocks prove this 


156 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

truth too plainly for any one to be mistaken; for had it been 
done by icebergs sliding into the sea, or even the water there¬ 
from, their course must have been outward, and would have cut 
the striae in the rocks in that direction; that is, on a parallel 
line with their course. But this, we find, is not the case, for 
geologists themselves admit that striae are cut or worn on a par¬ 
allel line with the coast, which I think sufficient to prove that 
neither glaciers or icebergs cut the striae or notches, even admit¬ 
ting they were capable of doing so. The Gulf of California is 
simply a washout produced from two causes. The first or great¬ 
er cause, perhaps, was the enormous quantity of water and wash 
that came down the Colorado river. This mighty stream which 
at one time, no doubt, for grandeur and power, outshone the 
Niagara Falls of to-day, was met at the “Needles” by an arm of 
the sea which then flowed from the Pacific ocean or western side 
of the range. Those two streams jointly and severally undoubt¬ 
edly washed out or formed what is known as the California Gulf. 
I am as confident of this, from the formation of the land, as I 
am that the sun will rise in the east to-morrow. The land dip¬ 
ping toward the “Needles” is another strong proof that water 
ran in that direction. The topographical feature of the country 
also shows that at this time a large portion, if not all, of Mexico 
was under water, and remained so for centuries after the eleva¬ 
tion of the mountains of California. Geologists will have us be- 
believe, also, that after the icebergs circumnavigated the United 
States, as it were, they held a kind of a reunion on the coast of 
New England; but the striae in the rocks are not all cut in that 
direction, which, according to demonstrated facts, must have 
been the case. 

But this is not all; they will have us believe that those ice¬ 
bergs broke up camp in a fit of madness, for when they flew to 
pieces, some of them, they say, made for Colorado and other 
parts of the west, cutting those great canyons on their way, 
while a majority of the larger pieces made for the south, grind¬ 
ing rocks and everything else to powder that were so unfortunate 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 157 


as to be in their way. But there is a great truth underlying all 
this nonsense or imaginary ideas, and that is, there are just as 
many icebergs on the New England coast to-day as there ever 
was during all its existence, and man has no proof under the 
sun, save his imagination, to prove to the contrary. 

The drift theory is nothing more nor less than a continua¬ 
tion of the iceberg delusion; that is, it is simply imaginary so 
far as ice in any shape had anything to do with its formation. 
The word Drift is a small word, but when we take it in its broad 
light, as we should do in order to understand it properly, we will 
find that it is like the word charity, it covers a great deal of 
ground. This will become more apparent when we come to un¬ 
derstand that our earth was originally largely composed of a 
drift formation. We have nothing to imagine, even in this case, 
as we have facts to prove the assertion. Men, in this case, as in 
the ice age, have taken a very narrow view of this great element. 
We can see this by some of the ideas advanced by our profes¬ 
sional men—Whitney and Foster, for instance—in describing 
drift in their way tell us that it is composed of a loose, unstrati¬ 
fied deposits of clay, sand, gravel and cobblestones. This is 
true so far as it goes, but it goes a very short way in describing 
this element. They further state that this class of drift as they 
have described is “familiar to all the inhabitants of the northern 
States;” but it would have been much better if they had said 
the whole world. It does not extend south, they say, of latitude 
39 degrees nor west of the Rocky Mountains. Thirty-nine de¬ 
grees, as they also describe, is about the latitude of Washington, 
Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, Pike’s Peak and Sacramento 
City. Now it is well to examine and see what truth there id in 
this assertion. In the first place, drift, let it be either original 
or alluvial, was formed by water, therefore wherever this ele¬ 
ment ran there was drift formed of one class or another, and 
as it is plain that our earth was from the beginning and from 
time to time totally submerged in water, it is evident, then, that 
there cannot be no such thing as limiting dift by a line or other- 


158 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

wise. In the second place, it is a well-known fact that what is 
known as drift has from the beginning of time to the present, 
and will to the end of time, be largely composed of sand; it 
cannot be otherwise, for sand is simply the residue of gravel; 
gravel the residue of cobblestones; cobblestones the residue of 
bowlders, and bowlders the residue of rocks. So it can easily be 
seen that sand is just as much drift as either gravel, cobblestones 
or bowlders, or anything else that is carried and deposited by 
water. In fact, Whitney and Foster describe it as such, and 
then turn around and tell us that it is not found south of this 
line. Now we all know better than this, for it is a well- 
established fact that the southern and western States are largely 
made up of this sandy element known the world over as drift. 

I presume that Whitney and Foster had reference to a 
cobblestone drift, but even then they would not have been cor¬ 
rect, from the fact that we find a little west of the Needles, 
Southern California, one of the largest drift deposits, perhaps, 
in the State. It is largely composed of cobblestones, gravel and 
sand—just the very class of drift that these gentlemen describe, 
yet it is in the neighborhood of five hundred miles south of 
Sacramento City or the so-called drift-line. Again, if we take 
the Sacramento valley we will find it solely or entirely made up 
of the same class of drift deposits that were washed out of the 
Yubas and the mountain streams which came from the western 
slope of the Sierra Nevada range. Either directly or indirect¬ 
ly, taking the State of California as a whole, it is safe to say 
that it contains as much alluvial soil or drift deposit as any 
State in the Union. Yet, in the face of these living facts, we 
are told by professional men that there is no drift west of the 
Rocky Mountains, nor south of this imaginary line; but delu¬ 
sion and all, as it is, we are called upon to believe it because some 
professional men have simply said so, and the truth is we will 
continue to believe such stuff .or delusion so long as we prefer 
imaginary ideas to demonstrated facts. 

Again, we have ample proof that the entire globe, or rather 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 159 

the earth part of it, was formerly or originally composed of a 
drift formation; that is, it was carried or removed from place 
to place and from time to time by water and deposited in a loose, 
unstratified form, containing a variety of materials, just as drift 
does to-day. While in this loose and submerged condition, with 
the water percolating through it, as I will afterwards explain, 
separated one material from another, and forming in this way 
our stratified rocks which afterwards became solid, for it is evi¬ 
dent that this stratification could not have taken place after the 
material became solid, as this would have prevented the water 
from percolating through it. Now, as stratified rocks appear 
to form the very foundation of our earth, it is safe to say, then, 
that drift was from the beginning. Drift, in one respect, is 
similar to an iceberg; that is, they do, and always did, and 
always will, owe their existence and movements to water, for 
without this element neither of them could have ever been 
formed or existed, therefore they never were responsible for any¬ 
thing they ever did, because they were always the agents and 
never the principal. This proves to us that water is the greatest 
element of all; in fact, it is the greatest and most powerful 
known to man. An iceberg does not leave the place of its forma¬ 
tion to simply see itself float upon the face of the waters. Nor 
neither does drift move up or down rivers to see itself move. 
The facts are they are not their own masters, and have un¬ 
willingly to submit to a stronger and greater power. Although 
geologists attribute to icebergs of ancient times almost the wis¬ 
dom of Solomon, yet in reality they never were any more dan¬ 
gerous than a large raft. 

Drift, through the agency of water, as we can all see, finds 
its way from the mountain stream to the sea; its greatest prog¬ 
ress in this direction is caused by floods, although a sand-bar or 
drift-pile may lie in a stream or river for a long time if undis¬ 
turbed. I have learned this by experience, and sometimes to my 
sorrow. In working in rivers for gold, I, with other parties, 
would very often come across a drift-pile containing a consid- 


160 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

erable quantity of this precious metal that had, perhaps, lain 
for hundreds of years, yet if we would only break the crust or 
take a shovelful of sand out of this pile so as to give the water 
a place to take hold or work upon, and a flood came, it would 
remove in nine cases out of ten every particle of sand and gold 
down the river. Once in company with other parties I remained 
along a river for two months in order to be ready to go to work 
when the waters receded, and when it did I was rather disap¬ 
pointed to find that our wash-dirt or wealth had totally disap¬ 
peared. 

Now, if this river was so situated that the tide ran up, it 
would carry or remove this sand-pile up the river, as well as 
down it. This is how, in my opinion, that sand-bars, as they 
are generally called, are shifted about in the mouth of harbors. 
A ship going into port with the tide, the keel.of the vessel would 
come in contact or even touch one of those bars, the current 
would center into the depression and carry or remove the larger 
portion of the bar further up the harbor, and vice versa a ship 
going out with the tide and touch one of those bars it would be 
carried outward in the same manner. I have taken notice of 
vessels leaving port coloring the water behind them, showing 
that their keels struck sand or some other sediment. When 
sand is once moved it is carried by the water until it comes in 
contact with an obstacle and then it will collect in a good deal 
the same style or manner as a snowdrift and remain so until 
again molested. 

This idea that geologists have that there was a time when 
the sun lost part of its heat, and the seas became frozen to their 
lowest depths, and the rivers stopped and turned into ice would 
do for a man to believe if he had any assurance that when God 
was making or creating our earth He made some experiments 
with it, with a view to taking out a patent; but as man has no 
other proof than his own whims and imaginations that such was 
the case, or that a patent office was then in existence, he must 
take a more philosophical view of the creation of our earth 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 161 

than this. The only true and reasonable view or conclusion 
for man to take is, that the earth bears just the same relation 
to the sun to-day as it did the first day it turned upon its 
axis. The coal strata beneath our feet, as I have already stated, 
testify to this truth. This being true, then it must be plain 
to the thoughtful that such a radical change as this could in 
nowise be possible or take place upon our earth. It is true 
that upon the elevation of mountains to the line of perpetual 
snow, even in a warm climate, the snow will moderate the air 
to a certain extent only, but it is not true, nor is it possible 
that the elevation of mountains or ranges did or could change 
the climate so much as to stop the rivers in the valleys or low¬ 
lands and turn them into ice. Every river and stream in the 
great valleys of Switzerland do not stop and freeze to their 
greatest depths; neither do the rivers on the plains of India; yet 
there is no proof that either the Alpine Ranges or Himilay 
Mountains were ever an inch higher than they are to-day. 
Again, the rivers in the valleys of California do not freeze to 
their greatest depths on account of the great height of the snow- 
clad Sierra Nevada range. This is the case all over the world, 
so we can see that the assertion that the earth turned colder 
either after the elevation of the land or mountains is not backed 
or proved by the facts, as it should be, to be believed, and in 
the absence of any proof whatever, we must look upon the as¬ 
sertion as highly delusive. 

Ancient river beds and'the 1 changing of their courses have 
not nor never had anything to do with the mythical ice-plow. 
A large rock, a point of rocks, a landslide, and even a tree, have 
been known to change the course of a river. This being true 
of the present, it can be stated as true in the past, for there is 
nothing new. Rivers that have changed their courses and 
lowered their beds are met with in all countries. Those located 
upon high or elevated land, with good drainage or fall, naturally 
lowered their beds, while those located upon low lands, through 
bad drainage allowing the drift or the wear and tear of the 


162 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

rocks from higher lands to accumulate in them, caused them 
to change their course. There is nothing strange about this, 
for we can see it in reality to-day right before our eyes, rivers 
running hundreds of feet below their original bed, just as well 
as we can see them running almost an equal distance above them. 

At a place called the “Horse-Shoe Bend,” on the east bank 
of the Molyneux river, in New Zealand, in early days the river 
took a sharp turn to the left in the form of a horse-shoe. The 
river carried gold at the time, and here it could have turned to 
the right as well as to the left, but the fall being so great, 
besides carrying so much water, gave it the tendency to run 
straight. The river through time straightened itself by cutting 
through acres, I might say, of solid rock, its present bed being 
fifteen or twenty feet below its orginal bed, and all cut in solid 
rock. 

In the Cawarra river in the vicinity where a mountain 
stream known as “Roaring Mag” enters it the reef crossed the 
river here, causing it in early times to turn or run around it 
both right and left. The water here also having a great fall, 
and a tendency to run straight, and coming with great force 
against the reef, carrying cobblestones, was forced to take a 
circular motion (as I have already pointed out), forming what 
might be called a whirlpool. The cobblestones being carried 
in this way with great force continually against it, naturally cut 
or wore its way through the reef, making a hole that is wearing 
larger every day, and now admits all the water coming into it 
owing to the great fall. This reef or rock is known as the 
natural bridge. A man might have jumped this chasm in 
earlier days, but he would have to be well pushed to-day if he 
would even attempt it. Before many years roll by the water 
will have this reef or rock entirely worn away, thereby clearing 
the course of the river. This is just how all the rivers are 
changed, and when a person sees and knows that this is true, 
and then be told by men, some of whom never saw a cavity in 
a rock, that it was all done by glaciers and icebergs and ice- 


FIVE YEARS ON 1HE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 163 

plows, it is not only galling but it becomes the eighth wonder 
of the world how man will alow himself to be blinded with im¬ 
aginary ideas in sight of naked truth. 

Finding in the drift deposits of those ancient river beds 
and water-courses of America, Europe, or elsewhere, the re¬ 
mains of animals, or even wood, that belonged to a hotter or 
colder climate, as the case may be, does not prove to us by any 
means that their respective climates were in any way changed 
from the present. Although Prof. Agassiz, along with some 
others, tried to make something out of it, yet, as I have said, 
before in regard to great men, we can only give them credit for 
what they know or can prove by demostration, and not by im¬ 
agination. The facts will prove that Prof. Agassiz’s ideas on 
this subject were only imaginary. For illustration: Suppose 
that we should find in the drift deposits at the mouth of the 
Mississippi the remains of animals that are known to exist or 
frequent the cold climate at the headwaters of the Missouri, 
would that prove to the world that the climate of Mississippi 
at its mouth was as cold at one time as that of Manitoba or the 
district comprising the headwaters of the great Missouri? Oh, 
no, not a bit of it; a man would be foolish if he came to any 
other conclusion, for it is nothing more than what would be 
the case, and it is nothing more than we should expect. 

On the other hand, suppose that the climate of New Orleans 
was as cold as that of Siberia, and the land composing the head¬ 
waters of the Missouri bordered on a tropical climate, would the 
finding in the ice or drift deposits in the neighborhood of New 
Orleans the remains of animals that are known to exist and 
frequent this tropical climate be any proof that New Orleans 
had at one time a tropical climate? Oh, no; it is just what 
would be the case, and it is nothing more than we should ex¬ 
pect, if the distance was three times as great. Wood carried 
by the same flood and in this same way has also misled geolo¬ 
gists. For instance, the remains of tropical wood upon the 
shores of Greenland wouldn’t be any proof that the Island was 


164 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

once possessed with a tropical climate, but it would prove that 
the Island was once visited by a current that came from or the 
vicinity of a tropical island that perhaps does not now exist. This 
current may and could have been diverted or destroyed through 
or by either the depression or the elevation of the land. This 
wood in question could have just as easily found its way to the 
shores of Greenland as the seaweed from the Gulf of Mexico 
finds its way into the Atlantic ocean through and by the influ¬ 
ence of the Gulf stream. This is just how the bones of animals 
belonging to a hot climate come to be found in the drift or 
debris of water-courses of that of a cold climate and vice versa; 
and how the bones of animals belonging to a cold climate come 
to be found in the drift or debris of water-courses of that of a 
hot or warmer climate. We have no call to go to Europe to 
demonstrate this fact, as we can do it at home. Who has lived 
by the banks of the Ohio river for years and has not seen animals 
of every kind known to the country carried down by her every 
large flood? Some of these animals, perhaps, were feeding 
quietly in their stalls; some were doubtless browsing thought¬ 
lessly along the river’s banks, while others were lying down or 
feeding in some close-by ravine, when suddenly a storm of rain 
comes, the river rises and the water runs down off the mountain 
side through the ravines, and one by one those helpless animals 
are carried with it into the the raging river without a moment’s 
warning—some with leaves or twigs in their mouths, while 
others have the unruminated food in their stomachs, and in this 
condition their bodies are borne down upon the crest of the 
water to New Orleans, or the banks of the Lena, as the case 
may be, there to become imbedded or frozen in the ice for years 
or perhaps centuries. This is the way, and the .only way that 
those animals met their death which are found in the ice or im¬ 
bedded in the earth with twigs and leaves in their mouths and 
unruminated food in their stomachs, and in many instances 
their hides undisturbed. This is just the way the mammoth, 
which geologists make so much about, found its way to the banks 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND,. 165 

of the Lena, where it was discovered in an odd piece of ice by a 
fisherman in 1779. Some people think that finding this mam¬ 
moth in this block of ice was a most wonderful thing. One 
would almost think, to hear them talk, that it fell from the 
clouds in a snow storm, while geologists think that it is not only 
a link, but a whole chain of evidence in support of their pet or 
imaginary theory that the earth changed its climate from a 
warm to a cold stage instantly, and that the God-forsaken 
country of Siberia at one time had a tropical climate. But 
there is no more truth or proof that the finding of this mam¬ 
moth in the ice proved a warmer climate than there would be in 
finding the remains of an animal belonging to Manitoba in the 
wash or debris in the vicinity of New Orleans or the mouth of 
the Mississippi would prove that at one time those places had a 
cold climate similar to that of Manitoba. The truth of the 
whole matter is that this mammoth was brought down from 
the headwaters of this ancient stream just as we see animals 
from the Alleghenies carried by the Ohio river big flood. This 
is not only the case with the Ohio river, but we find it so with 
every water-course upon the face of the globe. This is also sup¬ 
ported by the fact that the remains of those mammoths are 
found along the banks of the Lena and her tributaries and even 
at their mouths imbedded in frozen mud and sand, which is a 
plain case that they and the alluvial deposit were both brought 
down the river at the same time, as it is too well known that 
this class of drift never came from the sea. And these facts 
make it so plain and so common that it is scarcely worthy of 
note, notwithstanding the fact that geologists have written vol¬ 
umes upon the subject. 

This mammoth may have been a little out of its place at 
the head of the Lena, and it may not have, but there are many 
causes for it if it was. When the State of Pennsylvania was 
first settled deer roamed in its forests, and this was true in the 
early settlement of Ohio. Where do we find them to-day ? On 
the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, basking themselves in the 


166 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

sun or disporting themselves as their nature dictates. What is 
the cause?—Man. Not many years ago large herds of buffalo 
were found wandering on the plains of Kansas, but do we see 
them there to-day? No; the larger portion of them fell an easy 
prey to the cruel hand of man, and those that escaped destruc¬ 
tion were forced, like Lot and his wife, to flee to the mountains 
or parts unknown to them for safety. What was the cause?— 
Man. Such may have been the way of this mammoth, doubt¬ 
less. Its real home was probably south of the Altai Mountains, 
but the advance of man forced it to cross the mountains, out and 
away from its old haunts. It is now on the northern slope of 
the range a stranger, and while thus roaming or hunting some¬ 
thing to eat or to drink, perhaps in the act of quenching its 
thirst in this noted stream, the bank upon which it stood sud¬ 
denly gave way beneath its great weight and precipitating its 
great bulk into the water; or it may have been washed or carried 
into the river by a sudden flood. It is a common occurrence 
for animals to be thus swept away, and it is only reasonable to 
suppose that the mammoth in question lost its life in one of the 
ways mentioned. Geologists, however, overlook these demon¬ 
strated facts; they find it easier to sit in their parlors and as¬ 
sume or imagine the cause than to follow up those ancient 
water-courses and see or find out what climate they were in, but 
settle down to the conclusion that a sudden change in the 
climate caused it all; which conclusion is one of the most defect¬ 
ive possible for man to make—but still it is on line with geology. 

It can also be seen, as I have heretofore shown, that man 
became, to some extent, a disturbing element among the animal 
creation. They receded before him to climates unknown to 
them; but by moving gradually, they became acclimated to the 
new countries by degrees, thus enabling them to endure the 
change without material injury to themselves. This, then, is 
another way the bones of animals come to be found in water¬ 
courses apparently a long distance from home; but it is no 
argument in favor of the “change of climate” theory. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 167 

Again, the distribution of marine shells; that is, shells be¬ 
longing to cold climates, which are found in a warm climate and 
vice versa. Shells from a warm climate found in that of a cold 
one were simply caused by currents and reverse currents, for it 
is just as plain as the noonday sun that all Europe, as well as 
all other parts of the globe, was at one time submerged in the 
sea, and currents passed over it or them just as they pass to and 
fro in the ocean to-day. The rocks are a living proof of this 
truth, and consequently all assumption to the contrary is put 
to rout. 

It is also the opinion of geologists that those terraces, such 
as are seen along the Connecticut river, are proof of the oscilla¬ 
tion of the entire continent; but I am firmly convinced by what 
I have actually seen that such is not the case. Such terraces 
as the above, but perhaps on a smaller scale, are to be seen in 
some of the dry lake-beds I have described along the banks or 
course of the Molyneux river, in New Zealand. When I first 
saw these terraces, their cause became a great wonder to me, 
and I began to study them, and, I think, “took them all in.” 
My only conclusion at the time was that they were formed by 
different stages of the water or river. This impression or theory 
remained in my mind until it was finally knocked out of it a 
short time afterwards by demonstrations of the same class. 
While working in a mining camp known as the “Woolshed,” the 
sinking was some six feet deep. The stripping to the wash-dirt 
containing the gold was taken off in blocks of about ten feet 
square. When the stripping and wash-dirt were taken off 
and out of one block that of the next block was thrown into the 
hole left by the former, at the same time throwing or keeping 
it as far back or off the face of the block being stripped as possi¬ 
ble in order to avoid being crowded by the dirt. In this way 
there was a space or hole left between the dirt thrown back and 
the face of the bank or block which we were stripping. The 
strippings or dirt thrown back were a combination of loam, 
gravel, and very often a small portion of potter’s clay. The 


168 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

water raised in this hole* and on this combination generally about 
two or three feet in the night, and when it was pumped off in 
the morning I was counfounded to see the same class of terraces 
(already alluded to) that I had seen on the bank of the 
Molyneux river, but, as a matter of course, on a much smaller 
scale, but just as well defined. What astonished me most, how¬ 
ever, was that every time this dirt or combination had room to 
slide it formed similar terraces which satisfied me was not acci¬ 
dental, but natural. Now the cause of the formation of these 
terraces was very plain to me. The dirt being thrown back in 
a heap, and the bottom part being in the water during the night, 
of course became the softest; besides it bore all the weight or 
pressure above it. This combination caused it to slide the most 
at the bottom, forming the lower or outward terrace. The 
second terrace not being so soft as the bottom, besides bearing 
less weight upon it, was the cause of it not sliding so far as the 
former, and so with the third; so it will be seen that all those 
terraces slided in proportion to their softness and the weight 
they bore. 

Now any one who will take the pains can demonstrate and 
convince himself that terraces were formed in this way, and not 
by oscillation. When I afterwards visited the Molyneux I took 
another lesson from its terraces and learned by a glance, by 
taking the smaller terraces in the Woolshed a§ a criterion, that 
at the time the Molyneux’s terraces were formed the lakes were 
in existence. The wash from washouts or ravines off the range 
forming the background of these lakes was without doubt the 
material that formed the terraces. This wash, or dirt, upon 
entering this dead, or rather inactive, water that hugged the 
edges of those lakes and rivers, the softer and lighter part of it 
was forced to the front by a combination of force and pressure, 
causing it to spread, forming the outward or lower terrace. 
The second terrace, with more solid material and less pressure 
or weight upon it, did not extend so far as the bottom one and so 
on with the third. These terraces were not as a general thing 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 169 

formed at different times, but at the same time, as can be dem¬ 
onstrated. The river, by lowering its bed or channel, is now 
running from forty to fifty feet below those terraces, and they 
are high and dry above it. It will thus be seen that the terraces 
did not rise through cause of elevatiQn, but the water receded 
from them, which appears to be, and no doubt was, the case with 
the terraces along the Connecticut river. It is true, as can be 
demonstrated, that all terraces, great or small, were formed in 
this way, and that oscillation and elevation had nothing to do 
with their formation. What geologists call true drift, is that 
which was elevated from the floor of the sea with the land and 
bowlders. It will be found to contain very little if any foreign 
material, such as clay or loam. The alluvial deposits overlying 
this drift is simply the wash or wear and tear of the rocks and 
land caused, by floods. After its elevation it is composed of 
clay, sand, gravel, cobblestones and loam, the very material that 
formed those terraces, and not true drift. And this proves that 
these terraces were not formed by the elevation or uplift; if they 
had been the result would have been different; that is, they 
would have been formed by true drift and not alluvial deposits. 
This is too plain to be misunderstood. 

Geologists tell us that the remains of whales and seals have 
been found at Montreal, and the skeleton of a whale dug up on 
the borders of Lake Champlain, sixty feet above its present level. 
Now there is nothing more wonderful or strange about this than 
there is about terraces, for it is just what we should expect. As 
I have fully shown before, and demonstrated plainly, the land 
was all elevated from the floor of the sea. Through this eleva¬ 
tion some of the land became more elevated than another, caus¬ 
ing depressions, which were the result of those lakes, to be met 
with in almost any clime. These depressions as they were raised 
out of the sea naturally contained shells and fish, I might say, 
of every description, just as the sea contains them to-day, and 
it was impossible, or almost so, for them all to get away. Some 
of these lakes or depressions holding high positions or altitudes 


170 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

naturally caused the waters from them to recede as fast as 
drainage and a great fall would permit, thereby lowering their 
beds and some becoming dry or extinct, thus leaving the fish to 
die, as it were on the battlefield, then to become covered with or 
imbedded in the very alluvial deposits that formed those ter¬ 
races. This is the manner in which whales and marine shells 
came upon high as well as low elevations, the bones and skele¬ 
tons of which are found, as we are told, they are found to-day. 
It is how, also, that those huge bowlders, water-worn and 
grooved rocks found their way to the summit of yonder moun¬ 
tain. 

Again, this theory that after the cooling of the earth’s 
crust vegetation began to grow upon it, is only true to a limited 
extent, from the fact that only a small portion, if any, of our 
earth was ever elevated, or could be elevated in that heated con¬ 
dition. The truth is that by far the greater portion of the bed¬ 
rock forming the very foundation or crust of the earth is com¬ 
posed of the sedimentary class, which was undoubtedly formed 
in and by water, and not by heat; therefore such a thing as 
cooling is simply bosh, for it is not reasonable that our earth 
could be elevated from the sea, either cold or hot, and be capable 
of producing plants right away, as a large amount of it was 
nothing more than a pile of water-worn rocks and destitute of 
any soil whatever. This is amply proven to us to be the case. 
So it is far more reasonable and it is in accordance with facts 
that plants grew whenever they found within the soil the germ 
or foundation of their being and existence and not before. It 
is possible, however, that through the agency of heat a sedimen¬ 
tary or stratified rocks may become an unstratified 
or conglomerated rock, and there is no doubt but such 
wa^. the case in many instances, but it is not possible 
for heat to make a stratified rock out of an unstratified one. 

Again, the opinion of geologists that limestone was formed 
by or in the shallow waters of the sea, is not, nor cannot be, in 
my opinion, correct,from the fact that we find limestone in 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 171 

many instances upon the surface of the ground and above and 
below coal strata which we know by demonstrated facts never 
were in the sea. This makes it as plain as the noonday sun to us 
that a large portion of our limestone never were in the sea, let 
alone formed in it. Limestone and cement were undoubtedly 
formed, in many instances, from a wash or sediment of a clayey 
nature, and, as a general thing, both were formed at the same 
time, the softest part, or that part containing the most clay, nat¬ 
urally settling to the bottom, forming the cement stone 
or rock, while that part containing less clay re¬ 
mained on top, forming limestone. These strata lying so close 
together, and being so much alike, might in truth be called one 
stratum, as it takes a man with some experience at times to 
separate them. 

All the peat bog I ever saw overlaid a stratum of clay, con¬ 
taining more or less sand. In digging into this clay I found it 
in many places to be of considerable depth, and appeared to be 
nothing more than the residue of floods; and there is no ques¬ 
tion but that it formed the limestone and soapstone strata that 
in many places immediately surrounds some coal strata. 

It is also held by some men that in the formation of the 
crust of the earth that all materials took their places according 
to weight or gravity, but this is not the case, as can be shown 
either in the crust of the earth or in the accumulation, but still 
it will do, for those who fancy to do so, to believe that there was 
a time in the history of the earth that it was somewhat similar 
to that of a mud-hole or frog-pond, and when a large or small 
rock fell into it, took its respective place according to its 
weight. Those who believe in this kind of stuff can rest as¬ 
sured that the earth was never in that shape, for even the genu¬ 
ine crust of the earth, which is the sedimentary or stratified 
rock, proves to the contrary. We find this rock made up of 
alternate layers of different materials, each layer holding its 
place, not according to its weight or gravity, but rather on the 
principle, first come, first served. We see that this principle 


172 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

holds good, also, in the accumulation or alluvial deposits where 
we generally find the largest or deepest strata. This stratum¬ 
making is still going on. Every shower of rain produces a new 
stratum, so that there is a continual building up and tearing 
down of the crust of the earth. This, according to the rocks, 
has been going on from the beginning, and this evidence is not 
according to the whims or fancy of man, but that of nature, 
thus rendering it impossible for any material to have taken its 
place according to its weight or gravity. 

It is a demonstrated fact that even a thin stratum of clay, 
or one of a clayey nature, will stop or hold another material in 
the line of a stratum, it does not matter what it may be com¬ 
posed of. I have mined in several places in New Zealand for 
gold where the wash or gravel containing the metal lay upon a 
thin stratum of a clayey nature. Below some of those clayey 
strata to the bed-rock I found the original or primitive drift, or 
true drift, as geologists call it, to be, in many instances, from 
five to ten feet deep, containing little more than the color of 
gold. The bed-rock here was just the same class of rock as we 
find upon the summits of the mountains. Now it will be seen 
that in these cases that the gold was not upon the floor of this 
part of the sea at or even prior to its elevation, but brought 
there afterwards by alluvial drift washed out of ravines and 
from higher elevations. This clayey wash being lighter than 
that containing gravel and gold, naturally traveled faster, pre¬ 
ceding it for days, months and perhaps years, and running upon 
the original drift, forming this clayey stratum, but better known 
among miners as a “false bottom/’ Now it is upon this false 
bottom that we find well-defined gold leads, or any other min¬ 
eral, because they were not exposed to the mighty waters of the 
ocean. There are a great many places, however, where gold is 
found both on the bed-rock and false bottom, the cause of which 
is that the gold was upon the bed-rock or floor of the sea prior 
to its elevation. The clayey stratum and alluvial drift were 
brought afterwards,, as I have shown; but this clayey wash or 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 173 

false bottom was not only the means of forming well-defined 
gold leads, bnt it was the means or cause of forming our peat¬ 
bogs, let them be modern or ancient. 

Now, that we know limestone contains clay, we know that 
this clayey wash or stratum underlies bogs, and we know that 
these bogs have produced anthracite or stone coal, so we must 
certainly know that it was from those clayey strata that came 
a large portion of our limestone, not only the limestone under¬ 
lying coal, but all limestone strata we find in the accumulation; 
that is, from the bed-rock to the surface. When we speak of the 
crust of the earth, the bed-rock and original drift, should be 
known as the “crust of the earth,” and the wash or alluvial 
deposits that lie upon it should be known as the “accumulation” 
for they are separate formations; and in speaking of them in 
this way, we would know what part of the earth a man, when 
speaking, has reference to. There are some men, of course, who 
will argue that there is no such thing as accumulation, but 
simply the shifting of the material. This we admit is true to 
a certain extent. But they ignore the fact that the great 
vegetable kingdom and its influences has added largely to the 
accumulation of our earth since its elevation. 

When I first started to wash or sluice fine gold in sluice- 
boxes, I was, of course, like all other greenhorns, inexperienced 
and knew little about sluicing more than .to throw the wash- 
dirt containing the gold into the boxes; but one day in passing 
along the string of boxes, which were supported by trestles, I 
noticed a place under one of them covered and shining with fine 
gold. For sometime I could not understand where it came 
from, but I was determined to find it out, for I knew there 
must be a cause, as the gold was not to be seen there in the 
morning when I started to work. Upon looking up at the 
boxes where two of them came together, or jointed directly over 
this fine gold, I noticed a single drop of water dropping slowly 
therefrom. I said to myself, is it possible for this single drop 
of water to carry this fine gold and sand out of these boxes in 


174 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

this way? Oh, no, that surely cannot be the case. But this 
little drop of water was doing that very thing, and it will do 
it every time it gets a chance. By taking this incident for an 
example, there is no doubt that if a stratum of drift was formed, 
say five or ten feet deep and on top of it form a light stratum of 
a clayey nature or false bottom, it matters not how thin so it is 
compact; place upon this stratum loose shale, it matters not 
whether it is one, two or three hundred feet deep; place upon 
the top of the shale a stratum of sand or sand containing fine 
gold; let water upon it or let water run over it, and in time 
it will be found, if not all, the greater portion of this fine sand, 
or fine sand and gold, will be upon the stratum of clay and no 
further. The water percolating or dripping through this shale 
or any other loose material carries with it the fine sand that may 
be in it or upon it on the same principle as the drop of water 
carried the fine gold and sand out of the sluice-boxes, but of 
course more rapidly. This is again illustrated by what is known 
as the salt rock, so often encountered in oil and gas wells. This 
sand in some places is of a considerable depth and full of water, 
yet below it there is scarcely any. This proves undoubtedly that 
its formation was of a clayey nature and had it not been for 
this fact the water and sand would have found their way to the 
greatest depths, blending with the general formation. The 
water now being shut off by this rock accounts for the small 
quantity of it found below the rock. In fact whatever water 
found its way there became almost or entirely absorbed by the 
heat of the earth. Again we see water running upon coal and 
limestone strata the same way, generally forming springs. 
Upon this principle or theory I am convinced that the fine 
sandstone strata, such as the Berea rock and other rock, that 
is very often found in and below shale-beds, and which is used 
for grindstones and the like, as well as some of the other 
coarser sandstone strata that is found in the accumulation of the 
earth, was largely formed in this way. Still there is no doubt 
but that the larger strata of both sandstone and limestone were 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 175 

carried and deposited by great floods. The water acting in 
many instances as a separator, that is, the heavier material, 
such as sand, which afterward became sandstone, was carried 
slowly, as I have already explained, while the loam or other 
lighter material that naturally blended with it, and especially 
while in transit, was separated from it and carried further 
ahead. Every shower of rain demonstrates this fact to us in 
a small way along waysides if we will but take notice. The 
same is true of the clayey wash that formed the limestone 
strata, from the fact that we find in some of those strata the 
print of the ranTs horns, fish, leaves of trees and such like, 
which proves that they were carried by floods, as it is a plain 
case they never found their way there by or through percolation. 

But how those alternate fine layers or strata of trap and 
quartz, which appear to be entirely different compositions, came 
to replace or succeed each other so quickly in the bed-rock, is 
a stumbling block no doubt to the world. Bituminous shale 
was undoubtedly formed from this class of vegetation which is 
said to exist upon some parts of the floor of the sea, and no 
doubt does. Those parts are similar to our valleys or flats 
which are shaded by elevations throwing off or diverting the un¬ 
dercurrents, just as our valleys or flats are shaded by the ranges 
from a storm to-day. This must be the case, for no vegetation 
could form upon the floor of the sea, as I have already alluded 
to, where the water or undercurrents are wearing caves and cavi¬ 
ties in the rocks. This vegetation forming upon the floor of the 
sea, where it is free, for all must become, as a natural result, 
blended with a clayey sediment forming the constituency of 
shale. This vegetation, upon the elevation of the land, was 
washed to lower ground, or shaded from the current to some 
extent, and in its transit not only became water-worn but to a 
more or less extent blended with more loose sand. 

I saw sometime ago shale taken from a gas well a short 
distance west of Barnesville, Ohio, at a depth of 1,600 feet that 
was as much water-worn as shale I had seen in the New Zealand 


176 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

rivers, which ran on the bed-rock, proving conclusively that it 
was at one time exposed to the waters of the ocean. It can be 
seen here that there is a wide difference between shale-beds and 
coal strata; the former proves itself to have been at one time 
exposed to water, while the latter proves itself to have been, 
during all existence, an undisturbed body—a thing that could 
not have been so if they had ever come in contact with the 
waters of the ocean. Now, as this vegetation formed upon the 
floor of the sea, it is hard to determine the nature of it, as some 
may have been of an oily or gaseous nature; but forming where 
it did, there is no doubt but that it was both rich in carbon and 
hydrogen, especially the latter, because hydrogen is said to 
always generate most where vegetable matter is putrifying under 
water. Owing to its larger proportion of hydrogen it is lighter, 
and on account of its smaller proportion of carbon it burns with 
a paler flame. This, we can see, is just the case when natural 
gas is used for either illuminating purposes or otherwise. 
Wherever used it can be detected in an instant, even from a 
distance by its paler light. This being true, it is not unreason¬ 
able to suppose that water carrying with it particles of sand in 
passing or percolating through great beds of bituminous shale, 
such as are found in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio, would 
extract or wash out of it a large portion of both its carbon and 
hydrogen, and carry them into the formation of the rock, there¬ 
by forming or laying the germ or foundation of our natural gas. 

Again, as those great bituminous shale-beds must, like coal, 
have contained a large amount of oil, to this may have been 
added a large amount of fish oils, for this vegetation forming on 
the floor of the sea, as before stated, where it was free for all, 
it doubtless became the receptacle of a large amount of fish in 
a decomposed state; besides, when this shale or vegetable mat¬ 
ter was elevated or thrown up with the land from the sea, it is 
reasonable to suppose that a large amount of living fish accom¬ 
panied it as well, all in time going to produce oil. This fish 
oil, along with the oil in the shale carried by the water and sand 



FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 177 

into the formation of the rock, may have something to do with 
forming natural oil as well as gas. This idea struck me so 
forcibly that I inquired of a man who has been drilling gas and 
oil wells the greater portion of his life, if he had ever struck gas 
or oil where there was no shale, that is above the rock, and he re¬ 
plied, “Not that I can remember of.” So we see this idea is 
worthy of some attention. 

Although the analysis of shale to-day may show a small 
portion, perhaps, of both carbon and hydrogen, but as it has 
been washed for hundreds and maybe thousands of years by 
water in one way or another, the lack of carbon or hydrogen, or 
both, could not be taken as a criterion or standard to go by, as it 
would perhaps .bear no relation to the truth or what might have 
been the case in bygone ages. But let all this be as it may, 
there is nothing plainer to man than that water was the instru¬ 
ment used by our Creator in molding and constructing the 
earth; in fact, it appears that God laid the very corner-stone of 
its foundation with it. 


178 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER X. 

AS TO THE ORIGIN OF OUR EARTH, ETC. 

As regards the origin of the earth, or how it came into ex¬ 
istence, man may conjecture but he will never know; because 
when he goes beyond the word of God in search of knowledge 
on this subject he finds nothing to stand upon, and the only 
consoling way left for him to find his way out of the dilemma 
is by resorting to his imaginary ideas. This being true, it be¬ 
comes evident that the only knowledge man can ever hope to 
obtain in regard to the earth’s origin is by discarding imagina¬ 
tion and adhering strictly to God’s word. God tells us that at 
the beginning He created the heavens and the earth. But just 
when that beginning was or how he created them God does not 
say. But it doubtless covered all the ground He intended man 
to know. The world didn’t stop nor did it lose anything be¬ 
cause some men were at a loss to know the origin of Melchizedek, 
nor neither has man lost as much as he thinks he has by not 
knowing the exact time of the earth’s creation or whether it was 
formed from a chip off Mars or a slice off the moon. But, al¬ 
though man is deprived of this knowledge, evidently for a pur¬ 
pose, yet there are many things he can learn about our earth if 
he will keep on a parallel line with reason and natural laws. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 179 

In the first place it can be readily seen that water, as I have 
always maintained, was the sole medium nsed by the Creator 
in forming our earth, and there can be no doubt of the truth 
but that it was this element that molded and stratified the earth. 
This stratification it. is evident could not have taken place unless 
the earth in the first place was in a loose unstratified form, and 
in the second place it appears that water existed upon our globe 
at or before the earthy matter did. This is further supported 
by the fact that although the earth was made on the first day of 
the creation it wasn’t elevated until the third day. Now, had 
it not been in water elevation would not have been a necessity, 
nor neither could the rocks have been stratified according to na¬ 
ture. Again, it is evident that the stratification of the earth did 
take place from the first to the third day of the creation or dur¬ 
ing the period of its submersion, because when it became ele¬ 
vated on the third day, or rather partly so, we find the bed-rock 
water-worn, scarified, stratified, solidified, finished and com¬ 
plete, as it cannot be shown that there was anything more added 
to them. Again, as the land became elevated, as I have already 
said, it not only bore upon its surface water-worn rocks and 
bowlders, but fish, shells and almost everything pertaining to the 
sea; besides as the ranges or mountains arose the water natur¬ 
ally wore and scarified their sides from top to bottom. This 
gave rise to the absurd notion or idea that it was all caused by 
the movement of icebergs, when the undisputed fact is that the 
largest portion of those rocks were worn by water upon the 
floor of the sea long before the mountains were ever brought 
forth. Again, when we take into consideration the great depth 
of this stratified bed-rock and compare it with the time it took 
to stratify the rocks in the accumulation and we will naturally 
come to the conclusion that it took more time to complete this 
work than three ordinary days. This is supported by the well- 
known fact that nature works in its own peculiar way, and is 
seldom or ever known to be in a hurry. It is said that man can 
plant an acorn, but it takes time for it to produce a stately oak. 


180 SOME MEMORIES OE A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

These being demonstrated facts, it is within the bound of reason 
then to suppose, although we may not be correct, as we must 
admit there is nothing impossible with God, that the time or 
period covering the first three days of the creation was greater 
than the narrow mind of man is capable of comprehending. 
But even admitting that it took more time than three ordinary 
days to complete this work, it does not follow that the Bible’s 
account of the creation is not true, but would rather prove to us, 
as some have asserted, that the six days of the creation meant 
six periods of time, allowing time for everything to become per¬ 
fect by nature, as we see such has been the case in the accumula¬ 
tion and apparently without the immediate hand of God. All 
this is not only on a line with reason, but it is supported by nat¬ 
ural laws, making it hard for man to get around it. 

Again, what causes me to say that when our earth was first 
elevated it was both stratified, scarified, solidified, finished and 
complete, is that the land comprising what is known as the cradle 
of mankind appears never to have had but one elevation, and was 
as complete seemingly as was possible for land to get before man 
was ever placed upon it, because among the first places we find 
him is in a garden surrounded by trees bearing fruit that was 
growing spontaneous, which is proof in itself that the land was 
then at the height of perfection. 

Again, another proof that the land in question wasn’t 
further elevated is the finding of the remains of ancient cities 
imbedded in the earth, some to a considerable depth. This 
could not have naturally been the case if the land had been fur¬ 
ther elevated, because elevation always means better drainage. 
So, had this not taken place, it is more than probable that those 
ancient cities would have been washed away instead of pre¬ 
served. 

Again, the fact that the land was at the height of perfection 
before man was ever placed upon it affords him another reason¬ 
able conclusion, according to nature, that there was also a con¬ 
siderable time transpired from the elevation of the land until the 



FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 181 

advent of man. For, although we must admit that God made 
everything, still it would be unreasonable to suppose that he 
formed everything by hand. Facts will show that He has 
made and governed everything by a law. The flowers of the field 
as well as the stately forest trees own their being and existence 
to this law. “Man was not excepted.” Although it was God’s 
law that every plant should carry its seed within itself, it is not 
reasonable even to suppose that God planted those seeds, but it 
is far more reasonable that the universal law of nature that He 
inaugurated on the third day of the creation governing those 
plants was for them to grow whenever and wherever they found 
within the soil the proper element or combination essential for 
their production. This is also supported by the fact that every 
plant grows in its own peculiar soil, so long as man doesn’t in¬ 
terfere. We may bring a shrub from Europe or a plant of Hew 
Zealand flax from Hew Zealand and plant them in a soil best 
adapted for their growth. Although these plants may thrive 
well, it doesn’t follow that they would ever have grown in this 
soil had they not been transplanted. But the fact of their 
growing well shows that they found enough plant food within 
the soil to maintain their existence but not enough to produce it. 
Sometimes soil is brought from the bottom of a shaft hundreds 
of feet deep. This soil may in time produce a flower or a plant 
known or unknown to man as the case may be. This naturally 
becomes a wonder to him, as he cannot understand how this seed 
got covered up so deep and laid for hundreds, yea thousands, of 
years in the soil and still retained its vitality. How, so far as 
this seed getting covered up is concerned, it may be true in some 
instances, but in my opinion not as a general thing, because it 
stands to reason that this soil had the same privilege or power 
accorded to it by nature to produce those flowers or plants as the 
soil in the Garden of Eden had in the first place to produce 
the olive and the vine. It is very evident that One of the great¬ 
est drawbacks to the progress or advancement of the human 
family is its lack of natural laws, as the lack or inadequate idea 


182 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

of this knowledge not only causes man to wonder at many things 
but to jump at conclusions, and very often almost causes him to 
imagine that in some respects God is unjust. 

When we take everything in a broad light it is evident that 
man, through centuries of experience, ought to have known 
more about the earth’s formation than he does, but it is said, 
however, to be man’s nature to try to do things that he cannot do 
and let go that which he can. This is true in this case, for he 
appears to know more about Mars which is said to be 35,000,000 
miles away, than he actually does about the earth under his 
feet. Now if a man knows so little about the earth, it is safe to 
conclude that he still knows less about Mars. Yet science, so- 
called, is spending thousands of dollars every year looking at 
that great planet, when there is no doubt but that the money 
could be put to a better use. But it is a large field or outlet for 
conjecture as long as man exists, and it may have a good result 
after all, for there is no telling but that some one may discover 
a patent office in Mars, and should this happen the next assump¬ 
tion will be that some scientific gentleman there has been look¬ 
ing down on Washington, D. C., and for this assumption he is 
booked for a large funeral when he dies. But still no one will 
begrudge another the distinction of a large funeral, for the 
average person would rather look upon a thousand such funerals 
than to have the least intimation of his own. 

Now, in reference to moraines, which geologists tell us a 
great deal about. They say, among other things, that when the 
rocks fall from opposite mountains and on each side of the 
glacier they make two parallel trains which are called lateral 
moraines. At the foot of the glacier, or rather the mountain, 
the debris gathers in ridges, styled terminal moraines. In this 
way enormous blocks of stone have been carried many miles. 
They are often found perched on points of the Alps far above 
existing glaciers or dispersed over distant plains, so say geolo¬ 
gists. 

I have no doubt whatever but geologists are honest in their 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 183 

opinion as to how those moraines were formed, but demon¬ 
strated facts which are the only things we have to guide us in 
this, as well as many other similar cases, will prove to us that 
they never were formed in this or the way they maintain. As¬ 
sumption is a bad thing to resort to at the best, but when we do 
we should always be careful to base it upon reason or common 
sense. It appears to me that the assumption that a glacier could 
rise from the valley of Switzerland without the aid of water 
or some other power and deposit or dump off huge bowlders upon 
the Alps far above the existing glaciers is not on a line with 
either, and is, in my opinion, the shoddiest kind of assumption. 
I have had too much experience on the summits of mountains to 
believe any such stuff. The facts are that this so-called lateral 
moraine was formed by the rocks rolling down off the mount¬ 
ain moved by and from different causes, some from the effects 
of the weather, some by or through the influence of earthquakes, 
while others were moved from their long resting places by other 
rocks in their transit coming against them. Those large bowl¬ 
ders, some weighing over a ton, moved from an elevation of five 
or six thousand feet, go down the mountain at a terrible speed, 
giving them tremendous force. These rocks do not stop at the 
foot of the mountain, but roll for some distance, as should be 
expected, into the valley. Any man can demonstrate this if he 
will only try. I have spent hours at a time rolling stones or 
large bowlders from high elevations, and I know just what they 
will do. When one of those large bowlders gets started it ap¬ 
pears to run wild, jumping sometimes twenty or more feet at 
a bound. Not only this, but the rock will very often take a 
half dozen other large rocks with it, all rolling into the valley, 
forming undoubtedly this lateral moraine. Rocks rolling down 
in this way are not confined to any part of a range or mountain, 
but the fact is they roll down all along the mountain, and this 
from the day of its elevation, forming this train of rocks that is 
to be seen in the valleys to-day, and which geologists call lateral 
moraines by their imagination. Now there is a wide difference 


184 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

between a rock rolled down from a range or mountain and one 
slided or carried down by either a glacier or avalanche, or even 
a landslide. The former, as can be seen, rolls into the valley, 
while the latter is deposited, as should be expected, at the foot 
of the range, which forms this terminal moraine, as geologists 
please to call it. Another living proof in regard to the forma¬ 
tion of this moraine is that it is a well-established fact-that in 
all rivers and streams conveying large bodies of water the water 
has a tendency to shove and does shove all debris and everything 
loose, gold not excepted, to its edge and there deposits it. This 
is undoubtedly the principal way this moraine was formed, as it 
is supported by facts. 

I have seen some very large bowlders upon the slopes of 
mountains resting and balanced upon a rock not any larger 
seemingly than a man’s fist. In studying as to how this should 
occur, the only reasonable conclusion I could arrive at was that, 
when the mountain was in the act of raising, the bowlder slided 
down, and by mere chance caught the rock and it was stopped, 
the water shortly receding from it. This is supported by the 
fact that these rocks could not have remained in this position for 
any length of time, balanced as they were, and withstand a 
strong current, as they are easily knocked from their resting 
places by other rocks in their transit coming against them. 

Taking geology as it stands, especially so far as the coal 
strata and the whole ice age is concerned, as well as many other 
things, and the most that can be said about it in the fewest 
words is, that it is “a blank,” and is far below what should have 
been expected of the average mind of man in the antediluvian 
times, let alone at the close of the nineteenth century. In fact 
when a man comes to look over all the absurdities contained 
therein he becomes so confounded that he does not know any¬ 
thing. This was shown me a short time ago by a friend who, 
when speaking of geology, said that when he was a young man 
he made geology a special study, and he worked it “down so 
fine” in his mind that he came to the conclusion that no man 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 185 

knew it better than he. But not being of a selfish disposition, 
he concluded to enlighten his neighbors by giving them a series 
of lectures upon the subject. These lectures, as was natural, 
caused him to study more, and the more he studied the less he 
knew, because one thing conflicted with another and he was 
finally compelled to give up lecturing. He said that after all 
his study of geology he found that he did not know one thing 
about it. Now there cannot be much in geology or anything 
else when the more a man studies the less he knows about it. 
This was the case with my friend, and it will be the case with 
every one who tries to lecture upon geology as it is taught to-day, 
and why? Because he tries to explain and uphold-a myth that 
should have been outlawed by common sense centuries ago. 
But what is the difference whether the whole ice age is a delusion 
or not, so long as we believe it to be true, and teach it in our 
public schools? This puts me in mind of having overheard a 
group of men talking a short time ago on the subject of heathen¬ 
ism, and what some of them believed. When they came to the 
Chinese one said that the latter had a horse for their god, or 
for one of their gods. Another spoke up and said that it did not 
make any difference what a man believed in so long as he was 
conscientious in his belief, intimating as much that though his 
belief was false, it would be counted to him as righteousness or 
knowledge, as the case may be, because he was conscientious in 
his belief—no matter how great the absurdity. So we can see 
by this that we are all right anyway, in the eyes of some people, 
if we are only conscientious—no matter what we believe. 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 
we are only conscientious, than that icebergs crossed over the 
earth at one time, similar to a great rasp cutting the rocks and 
demolishing the forests ? 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 
we are only conscientious, that ice did not form and float prior 
to the days of Adam as it does to-day? 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 


186 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

we are conscientious, that after those ponderous icebergs crossed 
and recrossed the American continent, they piled themselves up 
on the New -England coast? 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 
we are only conscientious, that the earth when it received a 
stratum of coal sunk beneath the waters of the mighty ocean, 
there to remain and slumber until ready for another coal 
stratum, then to rise to the surface and receive it and then dive 
again as before, keeping up the performance during all the time 
of the formation of our coal strata? 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 
we are conscientious, that the earth knew the difference between 
a coal stratum and one of sandstone or limestone ? 

What can be more unreasonable, although it is all right if 
we are only conscientious, that there was a time when the waters 
of the ocean were frozen to the greatest depths, and the rivers 
stopped and turned into ice ? 

Now these are only a few of the many absurdities that are 
to be met with in geology, and they were the means of throwing 
my friend, who had pursued his geological studies so assidu¬ 
ously, off the track, and why? Because he was not conscien¬ 
tious. If he had been and swallowed every absurdity that came 
in his way, he might have been lecturing on geology to-day, and 
in the end would have been counted a “great man/’ and at his 
death been accorded a large funeral simply upon his fame of 
assuming, and not from what he knew, or the enlightenment he 
gave to the world, like some of those other great men who had 
passed away before him. The time of this great ice age is not 
known by geologists. I am satisfied of this fact; but it is sup¬ 
posed to have taken place (in the mind) some time before the 
days of Adam, but more likely before the days of creation. 
However, admitting that it took place before Adam’s day, here 
are the mountains of New Zealand, whose rocks can show as 
many scars as any mounts or rocks on the face of the globe, yet 
it is safe to say that the New Zealand Islands came into exist- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 187 


ence—that is, elevated from the sea—hundreds, and perhaps 
thousands, of years since the days of Adam. How, then, did 
those mountains and rocks become scarified if they were not 
scarified by water, as we have no account given of any ice age 
since Adam’s day, although we have an account of almost every¬ 
thing else that happened during this time? So it is not to be 
wondered at that geologists cannot tell the exact time, and this 
proves that the assertion was simply based on imagination. 

Although geologists hold together in regard to the existence 
of those great glaciers, this might not be altogether because they 
all believed exactly alike, but more probably from the fact that, 
although they may have differed somewhat in opinion, they were 
afraid to express it lest they might be laughed at. But let this 
be as it may, not one of them has ever made a single point or 
demonstrated a fact that such a thing as a glacier ever did exist 
more than they do to-day or at the present time. They base all 
their assumption on some scratched rocks that are to be seen on 
the Alpine ranges and other mountains. But what has those 
scratched rocks to do with a glacier? Nothing. It is true that 
a glacier sliding down a range of mountains continually would 
smoothe the rocks to a certain extent, and perhaps carry a rock 
with them which might accidentally scratch another rock, but 
we must not overlook the fact that there might be ten thousand, 
yea a hundred thousand, glaciers pass over this scratched rock 
before one of them would carry a rock that would scratch it 
again in the same place or in the same manner. So it must be 
plain to every one that even such a simple thing as a deep 
groove could not be cut or worn in this way. 

But what have glaciers in this respect done more than a 
landslide is capable of doing? Nothing; for it will be found 
that a landslide will smoothe.and may carry or slide a rock in 
such a position as to scratch another rock, just the same as the 
glacier is represented to have done. Admitting, then, that they 
were equal in this respect, we must not ignore the fact that the 
mere scratch in a rock was too small a foundation to build such 


188 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

a structure as an ice age upon. Why, reason alone, is capable 
of teaching us this in case we had no other proof to go by. 

Agasiz appears to have dropped into the same boat with 
the balance of the great men. He tells us in his geological 
sketches of a great glacier that was several thousand feet thick 
in the St. Lawrence valley; six thousand feet thick at some of 
the New England mountains, and that it stood fifteen hundred 
feet above a glaciated valley in the Blue Bidge. The length and 
width of this great glacier is unknown, even to imagination, and, 
for all the world knows, it may have extended to the foothills 
of the Himalay mountains. Now it appears in this case that 
geologists gave themselves over to one single idea; that is, the 
conclusion they arrived at was that ice had to be so thick in 
order to reach the sides and summits of ,those high mountains 
so as to wear and scarify them. They never for a moment 
thought that it was possible for those mountains to be sub¬ 
merged in the sea or occupy a lower altitude, and hence their 
great mistake. 

I want it remembered that I am not trying to get around 
the fact that Agasiz was a great man, or anything of that sort, 
for I am not. My sole object is to show the difference between 
facts and theories. This I have done and will endeavor to do by 
a few printed facts, showing and proving that the theory of gla¬ 
ciers or icebergs cutting cavities or scarifying our rocks in any 
shape is not only absurd but ridiculously so. In the first place 
it is a well-known fact that the wheels of a wagon moving north 
cannot cut a circle, nor a rut running east and west or at right 
angles to its movement. In the second place it is just as true 
that a solid body moving forward could not, under any circum¬ 
stances whatever, cut a circle or wear a cavity of any shape or 
dimensions. Let us for a moment view this great glacier mov¬ 
ing forward, with an imaginary eye, as Agasiz saw it, and see 
if it were possible for such an immense body of solid ice moving 
forward to cut or wear millions upon millions of circular cavi¬ 
ties in the bed-rock where a considerable portion of them are 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 189 

not over a foot in diameter, let alone cut a striae running at 
right angles to its forward movement. No; reason alone will 
tell us that it was never done, for it cannot be done with ice or 
any other solid body. Another fact, and if it is possible for one 
truth to be greater than another—in fact, it might well be 
called a truth within a truth—and that is, that water is the only 
element known to the world that can and does cut cavities and 
grooves in rocks and still pursue its forward course. And why ? 
Because it is as flexible, powerful and as free to act as the wind. 
It can strike a rock from any angle; it can wear a rock with a 
forward movement; it can wear a rock with a side movement; 
it can wear a rock with a circular movement, and it can circulate 
in the smallest hole or cavity—a thing which a'solid body cannot 
do. In fact there appears to be no limit to the movement of 
the water, as every one can see if they only observe its circulating 
power among the rocks. 

As regards this glaciated valley in the Blue Ridge that 
Agasiz has reference to, it was simply an ancient water-course 
that followed the ridge, scarifying its sides as it arose from the 
top to its present location. This can be made plain to the most 
skeptical if they will only take the pains to divert any stream 
that has a rock bottom and a good fall. If they do this, I will 
guarantee them to see the same class of rocks that Agasiz and 
geologists in general call glaciated rocks. Not only that, but 
they can see the water in the very act of wearing them. This 
being true, what more proof is required? None. It is well to 
note that it matters not whether those water-worn or scarified 
rocks are to be seen in the bed of a river, an ancient water¬ 
course, the slope of a mountain or its summit, it is a true indi¬ 
cation that they were worn by a strong undercurrent, as no slow 
or inactive stream was capable of wearing them. This is no 
imagination; they are facts that the world cannot get around, 
and they enable me, without any fear whatever, to stand by my 
former assertion—that is, if the world hasn’t anything more to 
prove the existence of an ice age save and except those water- 


190 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

worn and scratched rocks, then I say, regardless of popular opin¬ 
ion, that the theory of an ice age is a fallacy of the worst form, 
and all it lacks to prove it such is a thorough investigation of 
the rocks and mountains by men free enough from prejudice to 
enable them to be capable of judging or telling the difference 
between imagination and demonstrated facts. But as geologists 
have written so much about this so-called ice age, and pointed 
out so carefully and with so much ability the destructive course 
of the “bergs”—that is, from north to south, it is as reasonable 
to believe that it would be as big a job to convince them that they 
are in error as it would have been to have convinced the Gideon- 
itcs that the earth moved around and not the sun. Time proved 
this to be a fact, yet in the face of this truth there are thousands 
of people to-day who believe as the Gideonites did, just because 
they refuse to be instructed. Shipbuilding was retarded for 
centuries by what were called wise men simply giving it as their 
opinion that a ship could not be built over a certain length, for 
fear it would break its back across the waves. But experience 
has taught searfaring men that this assertion was a myth, as 
demonstration has proved that a ship can be built to almost any 
length, the size being the only question considered whether she 
would pay or not. Now, if seafaring men had always held to 
those theories, the great ships of the present time would have 
been unknown. Again history tells us that there was a time 
when a certain class of old women had perhaps outlived their 
usefulness and were condemned by the wise men of the day to 
be drowned as witches, and the greatest witch of all was the one 
most difficult to drown. They never thought for a moment that 
this old lady was possessed with a pair of extraordinary lungs; 
or, to use a common expression of to-day, she was “sandy.” Oh, 
no, nothing of that sort. The only conclusion arrived at by her 
persecutors was that, if she didn't drown right away, or in a rea¬ 
sonable time, she was not only a witch of the first water, but 
the “devil entirely.” Now, if we talk with some of our wise 
men of to-day about the days of the Banshees and Witches, they 


FIVE YEARS ON TTIE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 191 


will laugh at the erroneous ideas or the simplicity of the men 
that lived in those days; yet they themselves, at the close of the 
nineteenth century, believe that there was a time when immense 
glaciers, such as Aggasiz speaks of, passed over our mountains, 
which belief is ten times more ridiculous. But this difference 
of opinion appears to have been the case with men of all ages, 
and it is largely due, no doubt, to the fact the moat was always 
considered much easier to handle than the beam. 

Time is wiping out of existence through practical thought 
a delusive idea almost every day; but there is one thing that 
time can never do, and that is, obliterate the truth that it was 
water that cut, wore, scarified and polished the rocks, and not 
ice. 

It is not my desire to dwell any longer on this subject 
at present. 1 have plainly shown to the best of my ability that 
this great ice age, as well as many other things we find recorded 
in geology, has no foundation beyond imagination, and there is 
no getting around the fact that this ice age was the stumbling 
block to the progress or study of geology, because it diverted 
the ideas of man from the channel or proper course of study, 
and the result is that there is nothing known in geology to-day 
but what ought to have been known, as I have already said, in 
the antediluvian times. Of course popular opinion had a great 
deal to do in this case, as well as in witchcraft and many other 
delusions, because we find a great many who prefer the imagina¬ 
tion or theories of wise and great men to a truth or the demon¬ 
strated facts to a common or poor man. But this is old, for 
Solomon speaks of a poor wise man, who, by his wisdom, deliv¬ 
ered a city, yet no one remembered that same poor man. Still, 
in spite of all the theories and imaginations of these great men, 
the day is not far distant when this ice age will be placed where 
it ought to have been three thousand years ago—in the category 
of mythology—as the god of delusion and fraud, where it will 
outshine everything in that line as far as the moon outshines the 
stars. There is no doubt, at least I don’t expect anything else 


192 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

but that the wise men of to-day will laugh at me for making 
these assertions simply because I am poor, and besides a non¬ 
professional. But there is one thing they must admit, and that 
is I am not afraid to assail popular opinion whenever it stands 
in the way of truth. In regard to those wise men laughing at 
me, it is well for them to remember that they have laughed at 
nearly every discovery that has been made; so their laugh, in all 
probability, might not amount to much after all. In fact, it 
might turn into a sort of a boomerang. But in case they do 
laugh, there is one favor I ask of them before they commit 
themselves, and that is to be sure they are right themselves. 
This undoubtedly will bring forth a good result, because imag¬ 
ination cannot be tolerated any longer in this case. What the 
people want to-day is that which can be demonstrated. So in 
order to hunt up facts geologists will be forced to leave their 
soft bed of imagination, where, I might say, they have been 
slumbering for centuries, and in their pursuit for knowledge will 
then discover their error and not before. 

DARWINISM AND OTHER ISMS. 

But the ice age is not all the delusions man has to contend 
with by any means, for he has Darwinism and all the other isms, 
or delusions as well. The Darwinian age or delusion leads us to 
believe, in the favorite way of assumption that there was a time 
in the history of our earth, when a cow, by way of transforma¬ 
tion could turn into a horse, and a horse into a cow, and a 
monkey into a man with impugnity. A horse is supposed to 
have died several times, and each time got what the “boys” 
would call a “St. Patrick’s twist” before he became a well- 
defined animal. Nature appears to have lost so much time in 
bringing the horse up to the standard that it had no time to 
throw away on the ass. This accounts, no doubt, in a measure, 
for the latter’s stupidity. 

I remember while sitting around the camp-fire one night in 
the wilds of New Zealand, with several companions* some thirty 
years ago, that one of the party, a young man, introduced Dar- 



FIVE YEAES ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 193 

winism by asking one of the boys if he knew that he sprang from 
a monkey, and the answer was, that if he had he was not aware 
of it. After listening to him for some time (for it took some 
time before I could bring myself around so I was tit or in a 
condition to speak to him, for my temper was high at the ab¬ 
surdity of the question) I asked him how he knew that man 
sprang from a monkey? He said that "Darwin said so.” 
"Well, how does Darwin know that is was so?” "Well, he says 
that the anatomy of a monkey is more perfect than that of a 
man.” This gave me an opening, and I said, if that is so, then, 
according to Darwin’s theory and your own arguments, man, 
instead of improving on the monkey, has rather degenerated. 
This threw a stumbling block in his way so big that he could 
neither jump over or get around it, and after some consideration 
on his part he finally spoke up and said that this was something 
he could not explain, but Darwin could. Said I, you know as 
much about it as Darwin does, and that is nothing. This had 
the effect of stopping his monkey talk, for he never said monkey 
once more in my presence. Now here was a young man, like 
thousands of others, who are so wrapped up in the whims of 
Darwin that they are ready to believe what Darwin said, it mat¬ 
ters not how absurd or unreasonable it may be. It appears that 
man through all ages (showing his nature) has too often de¬ 
pended upon others to study and think for him. This has been 
a serious loss or drawback to him, as it often led and leads him 
into error, for no sooner does a humbug or delusion start up 
than he thoughtlessly lays hold upon it and sticks to it apparent¬ 
ly as close as a crab does to a rock without taking a second 
thought whether he is right or whether he is wrong. We can 
see by the Bible that men became mixed over questions in the 
old times as well as they do to-day, but others more wise and 
thoughtful asked for information on the subject and the answer 
was: Try all things; prove all things, and hold fast to that 
which is good; or, in other words, hold fast to that only which 
proves or demonstrates itself to be true, or at least reasonably so. 


194 SOME MEMORIES OP A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

This answer does not appear to be much of a consolation to man, 
yet it fills the whole bill, for when he comes to look at it in its 
true light he will see that it was one of the grandest answers it 
was possible for him to receive. Had man always been guided 
by this advice, instead of the dictation and whims of our so- 
called great men, to whom in a great many respects a guardian 
would have been a blessing, he would have been wiser three 
thousand years ago than he is to-day, and the very thought of 
Darwinism would never have entered his mind for a moment. 

What substantial evidence can we find that man 
sprang from the monkey more than a geologist has that icebergs 
passed over our forests? None save that of imagination. Al¬ 
though imagination may show a bright side to man once in a 
while, yet it is not without its faults, for it is safe to say that 
it has done more to cause him to deviate or turn aside from the 
truth, not only in spiritual matters, but in worldly matters as 
well, than all the evils, I might say, that follow him put to¬ 
gether. Man may talk to hear himself talk, or he may assume 
as much or conjecture as much as he pleases, but what man can 
prove that the nature of man has ever changed a particle? Not 
one. Follow him up through all the ages if you will, from the 
days of Adam to the present day, and you will find him the 
same cunning and selfish being without any improvement seem¬ 
ingly in honesty or morality. In fact, in these respects the 
proof is rather against him. It is true that Cain killed his 
brother; but if Cain lived to-day it is more than probable that 
he would kill his father. We hear so much about the advanced 
stage of a very small portion of the human family to-day, yet 
we hear of crimes committed by them which would put the 
heathen to shame. Sift man as you please, and you will be¬ 
come perfectly convinced that it would not only be a waste of 
paper but a loss of time to try to prove that his nature has 
changed or that he could change it if he would. Man has 
changed his appearance to some extent by his dress, mode or 
manner of living, brought about solely by city life and its influ- 



FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 195 

ences, but there is a wide difference between man changing his 
appearance and that of his nature, for the former, at best, is 
only skin deep, while the other is in the marrow of his bones. 
Man, in one sense of the word, is made like a thermometer; he 
has the power within himself to raise or elevate himself to a 
certain height or the standard which was intended for him to 
reach, but no further. And why? Because he was made for 
man; but the great trouble with him, as you will observe, is 
that but few have ever reached the standard or turning point, 
as all, we are told, fell short. Now, as it was in the power of 
man to elevate himself to a certain standard, it is equally true 
that it is within his power to fall or debase himself to a certain 
standard, but no further, for it matters not how much he may 
debase himself, or how low he may fall, he cannot get below 
man; that is, he cannot take any other form upon himself. 
And why? Because he is and was ever debarred or separated 
from the lower animals by a line which he nor them at any time 
during their existence could or can ever cross. 

Take the Aboriginal tribes of Australia for instance, who 
appear to be as low in the scale of humanity as it is possible for 
man to get, yet in some respects they are no fools by any means, 
and one who so regards them would be astonished to see them 
perform feats which he, with all his knowledge, could never 
learn. Their mode of hiding in water, catching wild ducks 
upon ponds and lagoons, knocking down birds with a short stick 
or waddy, making boomerangs, etc., you might say without tools, 
and the art of throwing them is a demonsirated fact that they 
arc endowed with strong reasoning power. Some will naturally 
say if those Aboriginees have such good reasoning power, why 
did they not make some advancement. This would be all right 
if there was but one side to the question; but, like a great many 
other questions, there are two sides to them. Now if we look at 
the other side we will see that those Aboriginees of Australia 
are about as far advanced, according to their necessities, that is, 
making a living, as the most enlightened nations are, as they 


19G SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

live principally by limiting and fishing, etc., and their clothing 
consisting only of an opossum robe. A suit of clothes is detest¬ 
able to them, and if they were given clothes they would not wear 
them, from the fact that it makes them feel very uncomfortable. 
This, of course, is due to the hot climate in which they live, and 
the robe being the prevailing fashion. So any advancement 
among them was not looked for, and it would be impossible, 
owing to their wandering life, therefore it was not looked upon 
as a necessit} r , as they were perfectly satisfied with their station 
in life. Necessity is known as the mother of invention, and 
man was seldom or ever known to carry a rope to pull himself 
out of a pit. He has, as a general thing, fallen into it before 
he studies or even thinks of the necessity of the rope by which 
he can pull himself out. So this necessity of the Australian 
Aboriginees to make a living was never felt by them in their 
wandering life. And thus it was not possible for them to make 
any advancement, for, as we can see plainly, the first invention 
or advancement made by the human family was caused by ne¬ 
cessity and not, as some one would say, by smartness. We see 
that in early times when men saw the benefit, or rather the 
necessity of strength, they banded themselves together, forming 
villages, in order to better defend themselves against wandering 
tribes and the wild beasts of the forests. Then those wandering 
tribes seeing the necessity of more strength before they came 
against those villages, also banded themselves together in order 
to insure victory. The villagers now saw that something else 
had to be done in order to insure their safety; so a wall around 
the villages was counted a necessity, and great walls were built. 
But when great armies came against those walled villages, towns 
or cities, as the case may be, they saw, and not till then, the 
necessity of something to demolish those walls with. This 
called for more genius, and the battering-ram was produced, 
and, in my opinion, was as well thought of in its day as the 
greatest gun is to-day. But if a wall around a city had never 
been built, it is safe to say a battering-ram would never have 
been known. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 197 

So the nations of the earth go on in this way until the 
present time spending millions of dollars every year foolishly 
trying to keep up or get ahead of each other; and in this respect 
they are no further advanced than they were two thousand years 
ago with all their expenditure; and after all this great im¬ 
provement, as it is called, is simply made up from experience 
and unnecessary expense, but how long this unnecessary expense 
is going to be carried on it is not easy to say. But the way 
things look at present it is not likely to stop before all nations 
become bankrupt; then, perhaps, they will have time to reflect 
that man was made for a nobler purpose than to be slaughtered 
upon battle-fields. 

Again, when the Romans began to move their great armies, 
they saw the necessity of good roads; then the roads were 'im¬ 
proved, and this improvement in roads goes on until the present 
day—just as man sees the necessity. And as necessity is the 
mother of invention, so it is with improvements of all kinds. 
When the sickle was invented, and it never was invented before 
it was found to be a necessity; it answered all the purposes for a 
lengthy period, and was just as well thought of in its time, and 
as good invention as the mowing machine and the reaper is to¬ 
day, for the latter at the time the former was invented would 
have been in advance of, its time and justly looked upon as a 
dead letter, because it was no necessity. 

Some people wonder how it is that so many great inventions 
have been made in late years, while others attribute the discov¬ 
eries to the theory that men are growing smarter or wiser, but 
this is not the case, for men are not born with any more brains 
to-day than they ever were. In regard to this I am reminded of 
a man looking at another on the top of a very high ladder. He 
sees him up there and concludes without a moment’s thought 
that the man has performed a most wonderful feat. So he has 
if the observer has been asleep during the time the man was 
ascending the ladder, but if he had carefully watched the man 
from the time he put his foot on the first round until he reached 


198 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 


the top it would not appear so wonderful. So it is with us; if 
we are asleep or overlook the progress of man that has been made 
or going on for centuries, then, no doubt, the great inventions of 
to-day would appear wonderful to us. But if we go back for 
centuries and watch carefully every step that man has taken 
during this time in the way of improvements, caused by his ne¬ 
cessities, up to the present time, he will in no way be surprised; 
in fact, it is just what we should expect. Now there is another 
cause for so many inventions being discovered in late years, and 
that is, that the necessities of man have become greater in every 
branch of business; but after all, these great inventions man 
finds it just as hard to make a living to-day as it was for 
those who lived centuries ago. So it has made very little differ¬ 
ence to him in regard to making a living, whether he worked 
with sickle or mower and reaper, it amounts to the same to him. 
As it has been in the past, so it will be in the future, for man 
has been destined to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. 

In regard to improvements let not man for a moment think 
inventions are all at an end, for that cannot be, for every day 
calls for new improvements, and these call for new inventions, 
and man cannot stop them let him be ever so inclined, for he 
would have to hustle to make a living, no matter what may come. 
So the world in this way moves along, and before forty years 
rolls around some of those great inventions or improvements of 
to-day will be slumbering in the shade worthless. But man will 
be no wiser; he will look no better; nor will his head be any 
larger, nor will it contain any more brains, but he will have 
forty years’ more experience, just as this generation has upon 
former generations, for it is evident that there were as brave and 
as brainy men in the days of Solomon and prior to his day as 
live to-day; and if they knew something we do not know, and we 
know something they did not know, if there is anything in our 
favor it is simply the result of years, yea centuries, of experience. 

Again in regard to man’s improvement or progress, either 
in looks or his outward appearances, or in the arts and sciences, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 199 

* 

we find the first step taken in that line was in those walled vil¬ 
lages. There men were brought together, as they increased in 
numbers, and their necessities increased or became greater in 
every branch of business. A living had to be made, clothing 
had to be made from some material or other and its style had to 
be studied; bed and bedding had to be made; furniture of all 
sorts, and utensils, along with a thousand other things, were 
found to be necessities. All these wants of man not only caused 
man to study from necessity, that is, he learned by experience to 
keep up with his requirements. To those whose lot fell to culti¬ 
vate the soil, were also progressive or learned by experience, and 
made advancement because they were compelled to study and in¬ 
vent from necessity, in order to keep abreast of the times. And 
so this improvement goes on, and, no doubt, will continue to 
progress until the end of time. But it is plainly seen that when 
men followed a wandering life, with little to study and but few 
necessities, they made but little, if any, progress or advance¬ 
ment. This is demonstrated by those wandering tribes that are 
met with to-day in the Levant, whose ancestors, no doubt, took a 
hand in the building of Solomon’s temple, and what improve¬ 
ment or advancement have they made in the line of progress ? 
Xone. In fact, they have, rather, like the Aboriginees of Aus¬ 
tralia, gone back on their ancestors; and it is safe to say that the 
majority of them, if not all, of those living in the Levant do not 
know as much as those who lived in the days of Solomon. This 
proves to us that man is not naturally progressive, because all 
mankind would progress alike; but this, we see, is not the case, 
for man to-day is no nearer being an angel than Adam was. 
The fact of the matter is man has only progressed or improved 
when it was forced upon him by necessity; because man, as a 
general thing, does not work because he likes it. This necessity, 
no doubt, caused man’s advancement, as had it not been for it he 
would more than likely degenerate instead of advance. This is 
hard on Darwinism, but it is a demonstrated fact nevertheless. 

Again, as to the effects of exposure by a wandering or out- 



200 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'’S LIFE, OR 

door life has upon man, few people have the least idea or concep¬ 
tion; in fact the change is almost astonishing. I have noticed 
young men on several occasions who were brought up principally 
in stores, leaving for the gold mines, with the intention, of 
course, of bettering their condition in life. Their hands were 
soft; their complexions clear, and to all outward appearances 
they were pictures "of health. See those young men in two or 
three years hence returning home, “out of luck,” with old hats 
on their heads, old shoes on their .feet, and old blankets rolled up 
and placed around their necks collar-fashion; and if their hair 
was combed at all, it was more than likely done with their fin¬ 
gers. Their hands have become hard by using the pick and 
shovel; their features coarse and their complexions darker; in 
fact they have undergone such a radical change that their near¬ 
est neighbor would scarcely know them. 

Again, take one of the finest looking and best educated 
ladies in the land and send her to New Zealand where she will 
be tattooed after the manner of the Maori women. Let her go 
then and attach herself to one of the Aboriginal tribes of Austra¬ 
lia, where her clothing will consist only of an opossum robe 
thrown loosely about her, and let her fish along the streams in 
the burning sun, bareheaded and barefooted by day, and when 
night comes let her hunt opossums for a few hours in the moon¬ 
light, and feast upon their meat before she retires under the 
shade of a gum tree. Let her follow this life for ten years only, 
and let her return to her old home clad in Aboriginal costume, 
and every boy and girl in the town will follow her; and when 
she knocks at the door of her old home, the old servant, who once 
was ever ready to do her bidding, will tell her if she wants any¬ 
thing to eat she had better go around to the kitchen door. 
When she has partaken of something to eat and asks for the lady 
of the house, that lady when she comes into her presence will 
not recognize her except by a birthmark, and when she becomes 
known to her mother, she will take her before the old mirror, 
where the wanderer no doubt had wasted a great deal of time 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 201 

in bygone days. When she thus sees herself in the mirror, as 
others see her, she will step back, throw up her hands and ex¬ 
claim, as the Irishman did, “in shure, I’m not meself at all.” Did 
education keep this girl up to the standard ? Oh, no, education 
was never known to make a man’s or woman’s nose crooked or 
straight. The truth is that this lady has gone further back on 
her looks in those ten years of a wandering or out-door life upon 
the dial of time, or sunk on the barometer scale (which I have 
already alluded to) than her forefathers went forward in the last 
two thousand years. Had the monkey anything to do with this 
great change? Not at all. This is no assumption, for it's a 
truth that can be verified every day in the year. This being 
true, what great improvement is made upon the looks of man, 
when ten years of a wandering or out-door life will throw him 
back in the scale of humanity two thousand years? None. The 
facts are that this great improvement upon man’s looks was 
simply caused or brought about by his manner of living, as I 
have said before, and not that lie is getting away from the 
monkey, as Darwinites would have us believe. 

Again, take a farmer’s boy, say of sixteen, who has been 
used to running after stock, the greater part of the time bare¬ 
foot, and the balance of the time his father, to save expenses, 
kept him wearing his old shoes, or to meet the further develop¬ 
ment of the boy’s feet, the father buys the son shoes that are one 
or two sizes larger than is necessary, lest he should wear them 
out too soon. See this boy coming into town with a basket of 
eggs upon his arm; he is bent over like a man thirty-five or 
forty years old, and to all outward appearances his feet are the 
best developed part about him. Send him into a city, where he 
obtains a clerkship in a store, where he is more or less com¬ 
pelled by custom or style to “brace up.” He is well fed and 
cared for; his clothing is good and of the latest pattern; he 
buys shoes or boots, as the case may be, to fit his feet as near as 
possible, and by this means his feet, to all appearances, are re¬ 
duced. When he returns to his old home after five or six years’ 


202 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

time, his nearest neighbor will have to look at him two or three 
times before he will recognize him or be convinced that he is the 
same boy. Now, it is true that the looks and general appearance 
of this boy have changed; his hands are soft; his complexion 
fairer and smoother on account of being indoors. His feet, 
through wearing tight shoes in order to keep abreast of the times, 
have become reduced in size, and taking the boy as a whole hey* 
appears to be different. But what has wrought this great 
change? Simply dress and manner of living. Is this change 
a permanent one? Oh, no; send him back on the farm again, 
and let him wear the same class of clothing, the same kind of 
boots, and in less than two years he will be back in the same old 
rut again. 

I have often been amused at some of our savants writing 
about the great change that takes place with Biddy or Bridget, 
as they are wont to call her, when she lands in America. Why, 
they will have the world believe that as soon as she lands upon 
Arperican soil a change in her general appearance begins to take 
place, and in a few years her looks seem to be entirely different. 
Now this is true in perhaps the majority of cases, but what is 
the cause, or why should this change take place? This they 
have failed to show, but, like people in common, they jump at 
the result, and step over or ignore the cause. This very often 
leads men into error, for if the cause was studied, the result in 
nearly every case would be very simple. Therefore, the cause in 
every case should be studied as a necessity in order to obtain a 
true result. Now it can be seen, with very little thought, that it 
was neither the climate nor the soil altogether that changed 
Biddy’s appearance, but the very same cause that changed the 
farmer’s boy. Biddy, where she came from was accustomed to 
perform a great deal of hard work or manual labor. This, as a 
natural consequence, caused her hands to be large and rough; 
features somewhat coarse, and her feet, like the farmer’s boy’s, 
well developed. But when she comes to America her work is 
changed principally to that of indoors, and this, of course, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 203 

changed her complexion (not her nature or disposition), soft¬ 
ened her hands, and by wearing tight shoes, like the farmer boy, 
to be up with the necessities of the times, her feet became re¬ 
duced, and hence the change. But if Biddy when she first came 
to America had been placed upon a farm and compelled to wear 
the same kind of a dress, the same kind of shoes, and to perform 
the same kind of work that she was accustomed to in “Ould 
Ireland” the change in her general appearance would have been 
so small that it would have saved the savants who write about 
her not only a great deal of unnecessary time, but a large amount 
of paper as well. 

The effect of good keeping and care is not only shown on the 
human family, but on all the lower animal creation as well. 
Take for instance, a farm-horse which is not groomed perhaps 
twice in the course of a week; the hair on him is long, and be¬ 
sides he is poorly fed, and to all outward appearances is some¬ 
what of a wreck, although he is young and possessed of a well- 
developed frame. Now let this horse be sold to some one who 
will take proper care of him for six months, and the man who 
raised him won’t know him. A case of this kind, and it is only 
one in millions, was demonstrated to me a short time ago. A 
neighboring man raised a horse and sold him to a horse-buyer. 
Shortly afterwards the man who bought the horse took its 
former owner into the stable to see him, but he failed to recog¬ 
nize the horse. The horse was so much improved, that his for¬ 
mer own did not not recognize him. He told me that he never 
felt as badly beaten over anything in his life, and in fact he said 
he felt ashamed of himself. Now the appearance of the horse 
is just like that of man—it is not permanent, for if the horse 
be taken back on the farm and subjected to the same care and 
treatment as before, he would, in a few months become the same 
horse h\ appearance again. 

Again, let us go to some cold, mountainous district and buy 
a cow that has hair upon her almost equal to the bristles on a 
Russian hog; bring her to the lowlands, or into God’s country, 


204 SOME MEMORIES OP A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

where she will be proporly called for, and in a few months the 
man who raised her won't know her. The same change is not 
only the case with the horse and cow, but it is the same with the 
goose, the duck and everything else. Yet in the face of all these 
living facts, Darwinites would have us believe that all this 
change or improvement was caused by us all getting away from 
“old glory"—the monkey—when a man endowed with a very 
limited amount of brains ought to know better. So, after all, it 
makes hut very little difference, what Darwinites or any other 
“ites” say, the fact is apparent that all this great change made 
upon the animal creation was simply caused by their mode or 
manner of living, and the care they received. Although the ap¬ 
pearance of all God's creation can be changed in the outward 
appearance, to a certain extent, by the manner of living and care 
they receive, yet their natures always remains the same. Nature 
shows her hand everywhere—it matters not in what clime—she 
is always the same. Man may go behind the returning board, 
or he may, like Darwin, try to go behind the word of God, by 
misconstruing its teachings, but he cannot go behind nature; 
for she has thrown a barrier or defense around herself, whose 
height is not shortened by the heavens. Therefore any attack 
nude on nature by man does not amount to anything more than 
a grain of sand would to the Pacific slope. What effect, then, 
has the attack made on her by man, when he tells her, like 
Darwin, that man sprang from the monkey? None, except to 
cause her to hide her face in shame at his ignorance. This being 
true, what ground or right has man to cast aside the word of 
God and nature, whose course is as well established seemingly as 
the planets in the heavens, and lay hold of the mere assumption 
of a poor dependent creature like Darwin, who, it is safe to say, 
if we take his own teachings as a criterion, never raised to his 
own standard, that is, the standard required of man; nor he 
never proved anything in this case save in the way of assumption 
or imagination. But as faith without work is dead, so is imag¬ 
ination or assumption without some proof or demonstration. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 205 

This demonstration Darwin failed to show, therefore we must 
look upon his theory as dead and delusive, and not worthy of a 
second thought. 

Still, in the face of this truth, Darwinites will have the 
world believe that there is a unity between Darwinism and the 
teaching of the word of God. This, I think, every thoughtful 
man or woman, outside the Darwinites, fail to see; and it be¬ 
hooves them to point out where this unity comes in. This they 
cannot do. The truth of the whole matter is that there is noth¬ 
ing mail can imagine that is more at variance. 

Now in regard to monkeys, what change have they ever 
made upon themselves or their looks more than the lion or any 
other animal? None; because we find them to-day the same old 
monkeys that they were, no doubt, thousands of years ago. If 
they ever changed into man, what stopped them? This is a 
very important point that Darwin fails to show or explain, for 
the reason that he never saw a case of it; he never heard of one, 
nor did he ever know of one. What an awful thing, was it then, 
for him, in the absence of any proof whatever, to contradict or 
set the word of God at naught and substitute his own imagina¬ 
tions. In fact, it is something which the devils, with all the 
brass they are credited with, would not have done. The demon¬ 
strated facts are that the gap between monkeys and man, and 
man and angels has never been filled, so that they could, or can, 
even cross over to each other in this life, and not until they do 
should man disbelieve the teachings of the word of God. 

So far as imitation goes, it is no proof that man sprang from a 
monkey, simply because the monkey tries to imitate man, for I 
found that the kiwi or maori-hen of New Zealand, that I have 
alluded to before, will dodge a man or dog in close quarters in 
just the way a hare does a dog; yet it is safe to say they never 
saw each other; besides one is an animal and the other is a 
fowl. This is sufficient in itself to prove that they are not relat¬ 
ed to one another; but it is their nature all the same. 

In conclusion the most that can be said about Darwinism in 


200 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

the fewest words is, that it is a twin brother to Aaron’s calf—a 
humbug and a delusion in every respect. Aaron’s calf wasn’t 
made to suit, nor did it suit, the masses of the Israelites, but it 
was made to suit the whims or fancies of a few whose thoughts 
or ideas did not rise any higher than Mt. Sinai or that of the 
calf. So it is with Darwinism, which happily does not suit the 
masses of the people to-day, nor do they believe in it; but it 
suits the whims and fancies of a few who would willingly have 
the world believe that heaven is a blank. This is not to be 
wondered at, for we have the same class of men living to-day as 
lived in the days of Aaron’s calf, proving by facts that man’s na¬ 
ture has never changed. So, after all, this fuss that is made 
about man’s progress was simply or largely due to experience, 
and the monkey cuts no figure in the case. But there is one 
fact that man cannot shut his eyes upon and that is the nearest 
approach that ever man came to a monkey or ever will come is 
when he allows or permits himself through prejudice or any 
other cause to trample on truth or facts and upholds or fondles 
in his arms imaginary ideas. 

Although man has lacked and fallen short in many respects, 
there is one thing he never lacked, and I presume he never will, 
for it seems to be a second nature or an unconsumable food with 
him, as we can see it in him almost from the cradle to the grave, 
and it has often lead him into error, and it is his imaginary 
power. This power in some men appears to be greater than 
their brains (and this is just what troubled Darwin), for there 
is nothing too high for them to reach, nor anything too large 
for them to encompass; but the worst of all is, there is nothing 
too absurd for them not to believe, and hence their error. Man 
is not only satisfied with his earthly imaginations, but he even 
carries them up to heaven. God in his word tells us that there 
is but one road to heaven, and a very narrow one at that; but 
some men are not disposed to take our Creator at- his word; and, 
like Darwin, discard it for their own imaginary ideas, and will 
have us believe that the members of every Christian church have 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 207 

a separate road to heaven, making heaven, in their minds, a kind 
of union depot. But it matters not how truthful or how rea¬ 
sonable these roads may appear in the imaginary mind, they are 
false nevertheless; because they are not only contrary to the 
word of God, but are contrary to common sense as well. . For 
an illustration of this truth, I will liken a Christian to a piece 
of lime. Lime, it is said, whether made from chalk or marble, 
limestone or oyster shells, invariably contains to every 350 parts 
100 parts of oxygen; this is called its constitutional parts. 
Now if we take away or remove this oxygen from the lime we 
have no lime, but the base calcium only. Just so it is with a 
Christian, it matters not whether we take him from the Presby¬ 
terian, Methodist, Christian church, or any other church, he is a 
Christian only so long as he contains within his own bosom those 
parts that constitute one, and there is no way for man to get 
around this fact. It may be asked what those parts are. Well, 
as calcium is the basis of lime, so is the love of God the basis of 
a Christian; and as oxygen is to the lime, so is brotherly love 
to a Christian. Take away this brotherly love from a Christian, 
and you will have no Christian any more than you. can have lime 
without oxygen. It was upon this grand Christian combination 
rested the law and the prophets. Can a man love God and set his 
neighbor’s house on fire? No. Can a man love God and wil¬ 
fully defraud his neighbor in any way? No, he cannot. So 
long, then, does a man or woman feel within him or herself that 
they can in any way injure their neighbor, they need not wait 
until their neighbor tells them that they are no Christians, for 
they ought to know that fact themselves, for it is, “man, know 
thyself.” There are a few, and perhaps there are a great many, 
people who are led to believe through their own imagination 
that all it takes to constitute a Christian is for them to be mem¬ 
bers of a Christian church, be a Sunday school teacher, and be 
liberal to the home and foreign missionary societies and their 
work is done. Now this is all very good, and it adorns the man 
or woman who does it as much as the leaves adorn a tree, yet they 


208 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


can do all this and not be a Christian. And why ? Because they 
can do it all and still be defrauding or injuring their neighbor. 
So after all this class of Christianity is only what may be called 
a second-class Christianity, and as such I will liken it to the 
leaves upon a tree. 

As we walk abroad and see a tree beautifully clad in its 
summer foliage, we naturally come to the conclusion that the 
leaves are, a part of the tree. So they are just as much as this 
second-class Christianity is a part of true Christianity; but 
when autumn comes we can see those leaves wither and fall to 
decay upon the earth, but the old tree still lives. So it is with 
this second-class Christianity; it may remain with you until the 
silver cord is loosened or the pitcher broken at the fountain, then 
it will leave you as the leaves did the tree. But true Christianity 
is like the old tree itself: it still lives; it is an attache of the 
soul; where one goes, the other goeth. Now, since this Christian 
combination is the very soul of Christianity, as it were, let us 
write it upon our door-posts so that we may always look upon it, 
and it will guide us along this “single and narrow road 5 ' that 
leads to life everlasting, as the southern cross guides the mariner 
to the South Pole. 

Man is beset with so much humbuggery and delusion that it 
is difficult for him to know, in many cases, whether he is yet on 
the right track or not. One of the best rules that I know to 
guide men in general through this dilemma is that laid down by 
an Irishman. This fellow, it is said, was never known to give a 
direct answer to any question put to him. If you told him you 
heard such and such a story, he would run it, as it were, in his 
head on a parallel line with common sense. If the two run to¬ 
gether he would tell you that he believed it because, as he would 
say, it had teeth, designating teeth as common sense, but >f the 
two refused to run together, and one of them jumped the track, 
he would tell you that he did not believe it, from the fact that 
it had no teeth. Now what a great blessing it would be to the 
human family at large if they would adopt some such rule as 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 209 

this. The facts are that man has been, at every age of the 
world, too apt to believe that which has not “gums,” let alone 
teeth. 

But, as I have said, humbugs and delusions are so numer¬ 
ous, time will not permit me to discuss them all at present, I 
will say in the language of a countryman of mine, “I will leave 
them all with yez,” and return to the mines again, hoping, how¬ 
ever, that none of my readers will ever be too anxious to believe 
that which hasn’t “teeth.” 


210 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


CHAPTER XI. 

It is now about Christmas time, and the boys conclude to 
indulge in some of their old sports, to keep them in mind, if for 
nothing else, of old times. Among the amusements selected 
was a hurdle race, to be ridden by cowboys, or stockmen, as they 
are called, and some Caledonian sports, such as throwing the 
sledge-hammer and the like. When the day and hour came for 
the races, the boys that were to ride had been too much under 
the influence of liquor to sit in their saddles, let alone ride a 
hurdle race; but still this made the outlook for fun among the 
boys that were to do the looking on that much the greater, for 
they well knew that there would be "bushels of it.” When time 
was called for the race, some half dozen of the riders started, and 
the fun commenced. Some of the men, as well as their horses, 
apparently knew nothing about hurdle racing, or if they did they 
were badly out of practice. When the horses came to the hur¬ 
dles, instead of jumping over them they, dodged around 
them.' The result was that this unforeseen move of the horses 
by their riders threw them every time. The horses that did take 
the hurdle, as soon as they raised to jump their riders fell back¬ 
ward, and all the horses came back among the wildest excite¬ 
ment of the boys with scarce a rider on. 

The next thing on the programme was throwing the sledge¬ 
hammer. A big Caledonian got hold of it and swung it around 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 211 

his head apparently with a great deal of ease; but it appeared to 
me to be more dangerous in standing around looking on than it 
would be in standing among a group of Australians throwing 
boomerangs. But the day passed without accident, and as a 
whole was a most enjoyable one. The greatest joke of the day, 
as the boys thought, was on an old Irish policeman. . An En¬ 
glishman had a team of oxen, but in the colonies they were called 
bullocks. This man hauled merchandise from Dunedin to the 
mines, and he would go on a spree once in a while, and the result 
was that he would have to sell one of his bullocks out of his team 
to liquidate his bill at the hotel. But on this occasion he went 
on a prolonged spree, and was obliged to sell two of his bullocks 
to square accounts. The result was that he was arrested for 
drunkenness. There was no police station here at this time, but 
policemen often visited the place for the purpose of finding out 
if anything was wrong. This caused the man’s arrest. He was 
put in charge of the Irish policeman, and he chained him to a 
stretcher inside a tent. As some one was passing by and saw the 
man chained to a bedpost he inquired of the Irishman what the 
man was in there for. “That man,” said he, “is after drinking 
two bullocks.” 

I now leave Miller’s Flats with four partners and take up a 
sluicing claim at a place called the “Horse-Shoe Bend,” located 
some twelve miles further down the Molyneux river. Here we 
brought in a ditch of water for mining purposes, and remained 
here and in the neighborhood three years and made some money 
by hard work. The miners up to this time (1867) managed to 
keep the Chinamen off the Island, although perhaps it was con¬ 
trary to international laws. The Government now grants them 
protection, and the result is that every steamer from the Sister 
Islands bring its quota of Celestials. They were but a short 
time on the mines, however, until they introduced themselves to 
the community and the country at large by one of them stealing 
into a tent at night and cutting a miner’s throat for the purpose 
of procuring some gold. This diabolical act was heralded all 


212 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

over the Island in a few days, and the miners were put on their 
guard. 

A short time after this a few Chinamen started a camp 
about a half mile below us on the bank of the river. This news 
stirred up our little camp as much as if we had been informed 
that a Bengal tiger was in the vicinity. Up to this time we 
could leave, or venture to leave, a considerable amount of gold 
in our sluice-boxes at night without any fear of it being molest¬ 
ed, but now we concluded that it was much safer to wash up every 
night. I was rather in the worst fix of all, for, in order to make 
a garden, I had built my hut on the bank of the river, a short 
distance from our camp. I had a very nice garden, and the 
Chinamen in some way or other found it out, for I can assure 
my readers that I never sent for them. So a few of them came 
up one evening to buy some vegetables, and in order to make the 
required change, I thoughtlessly put my hand in my pocket and 
pulled out a handful of silver. The sight of so much silver ap¬ 
peared to excite them very much, so much so in fact that they 
gathered around me, looking over each other’s shoulders at it, as 
though they never saw a piece of silver before. I now realized 
the fact that I did a very foolish thing in displaying my money 
in that way. A thought struck me that they might come up in 
the night, kill, rob and throw me in the river, and nobody be any 
the wiser. Of course it wouldn’t make any difference to me 
whether they were or not. At this place there were large rocks 
in the river, and the water coming against or in contact with 
them with great force kept up a continual roar, rendering it 
almost impossible for any one in camp to hear me in case I called 
for help. 

All these things I took into consideration, and naturally 
pictured them in my mind in their worst form. The hut door 
being nothing but canvas, I knew they could easily cut a hole in 
it and steal in upon me when, asleep. But to counteract this 
move on their part, when ready to retire I gathered up a lot of 
old tin dishes, tied them together and hung them slightly upon 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 213 

a nail inside the door, so that the least jar would knock them 
down. This was the only hope or thread of safety I had. The 
only weapon I had to defend myself with was an old ax. This 
was good enough, provided I got hold of it first. The thought 
of this annoyed me more than anything else; but I still enter¬ 
tained the hope that I would catch the ax first, and if I did I 
would run them out of the tent faster than God ran their fore¬ 
fathers out of the “promised land.” 

I often laid awake the greater part of the night, afraid to go 
to sleep. I put up with this state of affairs for three months. 
I then got a chance to sell my claim and I did so. During some 
of those nights when fear prevented me from sleeping, I studied 
a good deal over the Chinaman, in order to find out where he 
came from, or from whence or what he sprung, and the only con¬ 
clusion that I could arrive at was that John must have sprung 
from some of the tribes whom God ran out of the promised 
land, as it were, in order to make room for the Israelites. If 
this is so, and I doubt it not, then it is no wonder that our Cali¬ 
fornia brethren, who claim to have had nothing to do with mak¬ 
ing him, think it no harm to kick him from under the orange- 
blossoms. 

Having sold my interest in the claim, I bade adieu to my 
old acquaintances and the gold-fields of Hew Zealand. 

When I arrived at Dunedin, I found that the steamship 
Gothenburg was making preparations to sail the next evening 
for Melbourne, her course being along the eastern shore of the 
Island, calling at Littleton, crossing Cook’s Straits to Welling¬ 
ton, recrossing the Straits and calling at Graysville, Nelson, 
Hokatika, and thence to Melbourne. It being a rule of mine to 
see the most I could for the money, I concluded this trip was just 
the thing, as I had always been anxious to pass through Cook’s 
Straits, so I secured passage to Melbourne. 

The next evening at nearly sundown the steamer cleared 
port for Littleton, arriving there about five o’clock next morn¬ 
ing, the distance being 190 miles. On entering this harbor to 


214 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

the right or north rises abruptly a mountain or coast range. It 
runs along the coast, about three-fourths of a mile. North 
of the entrance a spur from this range runs west, and on a 
narrow strip of land that lies south of the spur and the harbor 
the town of Littleton is located, the population at this time 
being about one thousand. The harbor is small and neat, and 
they were then improving it, which, when completed, I was in¬ 
formed would give the harbor a capacity of berthing about fifty 
full-rigged vessels. The harbor is well protected on the north 
and east, but it has little or no protection on the south and west, 
where it is the most required. A chain-gang was working on the 
docks, and to distinguish them from men more fortunate or of 
better reputation, they were dressed in red jackets. This gave 
the place a novel appearance. Policemen were stationed at in¬ 
tervals along the range, with fixed bayonets, in order, I suppose, 
to see that the culprits served their time. 

Through this spur running west, and which lies immedi¬ 
ately back or north of the town, runs a railroad tunnel, the long¬ 
est in the colony, being one and three-fourths miles in length. 
The railroad runs north to a town known as Christ’s Church, 
distant about seven miles. My partner wanted me to go ashore 
and take a ride to it. I would have gladly done so if I could 
have had any assurance that our steamer would be in port when 
we came back. The steamer remained here a few hours loading 
and unloading, and then steamed away for Wellington. Our 
voyage along the coast was not very exciting, although we had a 
grand view of the coast. Its general appearance, so far as we 
could see from the steamer’s deck, was wild and rugged in the 
extreme, and had a repelling look about it for both the mariner 
and agriculturist; but for a man on the hunt for gold or the 
study of geology it had a strong affinity. 

We arrived at Wellington, the empire city of New Zealand, 
about twelve o’clock at night; distance from Littleton 175 miles. 
We remained here until about six o’clock the next evening. A 
range of mountains lies between this town and Cook’s Straits, 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 215 

and apparently runs east and west; and, like Littleton, the busi¬ 
ness part of the town is built on a narrow strip of land lying 
between the foot of this range and the harbor. A few Maori 
huts, however, appeared to be built at random upon the side of 
the range. The population at this time was, I should judge, two 
thousand. The harbor, I believe, was the largest I saw in New 
Zealand, and could be made with little cost to berth or accom¬ 
modate a great many vessels. But the only protection it seemed 
to have was from this range on the south. The wind on this 
(North) Island differs from that on the Middle Island, as it 
keeps up an almost continual blow. I was informed that the 
mean pressure was a pound to the square foot; and to guard 
against this wind a vessel brought to her berth is made as secure 
as some wild animal. It is also said that a resident of the town 
can be designated by his custom or habit of walking in the mid¬ 
dle of the street for fear that a brick, slate or a sheet of corrugat¬ 
ed iron will be thrown upon his head. 

When six o’clock came the following evening, supper was 
scarcely over when our vessel pulled out for Graysville. The 
wind was blowing a stiff breeze from the west. I had been long 
enough at sea to know that we wouldn’t carry our suppers long. 
When we got fairly into the Straits the wind and sea appeared 
to be dead ahead. The sea was running high, and it was but a 
short time until the vessel felt to me as though I was jumping 
a horse over a three-rail fence. The passengers soon began 
scrambling for the sides of the steamer. I secured a good seat 
at the railing, and as I knew that seats would soon be in demand, 
I stuck to it, following the advice that an Irishman gave to his 
daughter. When she was about to die her father told her when 
she went to heaven, and got a good seat, to keep it, and not be 
running out and in with her Aunt Sally, intimating as much 
as if she followed the whims of her Aunt Sally, that she was not 
only in danger of losing her seat, but a place in heaven alto¬ 
gether. 

But my idea was that if the daughter had felt as badly as 


216 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

I did, there would be little fear of her leaving her seat, even for 
her best fellow, let alone for her Aunt Sally. I vomited for an 
hour right along, the intermissions being so short that they were 
not worth mentioning. After being relieved of my supper, and 
apparently everything else loose within me, I began to get rather 
seared, for it was hard to tell what I would throw up next. I 
remained in my seat until the evening began to close in, for I 
could not well help myself. When night finally set in the sea 
was extremely rough. The waves were striking the bows of the 
steamer with great force, and the wind was carrying the spray 
up through the rigging. I saw at once that there was too much 
water flying around to be even healthy for a “Campbellite.” 
The cabin was between decks, but the question with me was how 
to get to it. I made several attempts to get there, but always 
failed at the top of the stairway, and was very reluctantly com¬ 
pelled to go back to my seat again. Things were still getting 
worse, and it appeared evident to me that I must reach the cabin 
in some way or another, and if any one came in my way on the 
stairway it was their lookout. So I made a desperate rush down 
the stairs with my hand before my mouth in order to shade the 
party who might be so unfortunate as to get in my way. But as 
luck would have it I made my bunk all right, but with so little 
time to spare that I was obliged to tumble in with boots and coat 
on just as I came off deck. I laid on my face and stomach, with 
head down, and I obtained relief so suddenly that I could scarce¬ 
ly realize was was the matter. This was the first time I knew 
that lying in this position was a sure cure for seasickness, and I 
only found it out by accident, or rather “tumbled on to it.” I 
am satisfied by this experience that as soon as persons feel them¬ 
selves getting sick at the stomach if they retire to their bunks, or 
beds, as the case may be, and lie upon their face and stomach, 
they will not only perhaps save themselves this great strain of 
vomiting which accompanies seasickness, but they may avoid 
being sick altogether. 

As I now felt all right, I became amused at the “boys” as 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 217 

they came off deck, each telling what he saw and had passed 
through; but it was the general opinion of them all that the 
vessel would be lost. A man of low stature and about sixty 
years of age now took the floor and “added fuel to the flame” by 
saying that the steamship “City of Dunedin” was lost a few 
years ago on the same course we were on. This, of course, 
worked the passengers up to a very high state of fear and ex¬ 
citement, for all on board our vessel remembered having read in 
ihe papers accounts of the loss of the City of Dunedin with all 
on board with not even a bucket left to tell the tale. But the 
passengers on our ship would probably not have thought of this 
catastrophe, had it not been for the old gentleman speaking 
about it. The passengers by this time had commenced to pray, 
and every time a wave struck the vessel their prayers became a 
little louder; but so far as I could understand the import or lan¬ 
guage of their supplications, none of them wanted to go to 
heaven direct — all seemingly having a fervent desire to get 
ashore first. I didn’t pray much, for the way things looked I 
came to the conclusion that I was a good deal in the same posi¬ 
tion as the man about to be hung, that is, I postponed my 
prayers a little too long, for it was my opinion that had we both 
prayed in time, he would probably not have been hung, and I 
would not have been in Cook’s Straits. 

In the midst of this excitement what might be termed an 
“old man wave” struck the steamer on the port-bow a most ter¬ 
rific blow, or as an Irishman would say, “a terrible clout.” The 
steamer seemed to stop, and the water came pouring down the 
hatchway. Up to this time we could hear the captain on deck 
giving orders to the sailors, but his voice and those of the sailors 
are not now to be heard. As we were expecting the ship to go 
down any moment, we now come to the conclusion that she had 
gone. I was so sure of this that I listened to hear how she 
would strike the bottom, and also what kind of bottom Cook’s 
Strait had. This would do me no good, of course, but it was 
natural for me to find out to the last. I turned my head 


218 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


around (for it wasn’t safe to lift it np) to see what the passen¬ 
gers were doing. I found them all sitting around and not say¬ 
ing a word, but their countenances showed unmistakable evi¬ 
dence that they were, like me, waiting to hear the result. The 
old gentleman was still standing on the cabin floor praying. He 
appeared to be dying so hard that I concluded that he must have 
stolen sheep in the Old Country, and as a just punishment had 
been sent out to Van Dieman’s Land, or “ ’Tother Side.” I 
came around this way in order to see a little more of the world, 
as I thought, by now I find, to my sorrow, that I am seeing a 
little too much. But alas! “the best laid plans gang aft aglee.” 

When I thought it was about time for the steamer to strike 
bottom, the captain broke the stilness in a loud and excited voice, 
“Stand by the helm!” I said to myself, My God! is it possible 
that we are still afloat ? but I reckon we must be or else the cap¬ 
tain is not aware that he is drowned. It is not necessary to say 
that the captain’s voice was a most joyful sound to our ears, for 
up to this time we, or at least many of us, had no idea that we 
were still on top. 

During the passage I made the acquaintance of a young 
man from Australia. He took a great liking to me simply be¬ 
cause I knew where his home in Australia was. He now came 
to my bunk and said, “My God! how I would like to give three 
cheers in Big Burk street, Melbourne, just now.” I said to him 
coolly, “If you were there now I would like very much to be in 
your company, but the way things now look, I am rather con¬ 
vinced that your cheering is at an end in this world at any rate.” 

The steamer has now recovered from the shock and proceeds 
on her course, but we all felt far from being out of danger. 
There are but few people who have the least idea how happy I 
would have felt at this time under the shade of a gum tree. In 
passing through this thrilling ordeal I learned one thing which 
up to this time I could never fully understand, and that was 
where divers had entered sunken vessels and found the passen- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 219 

gers all sitting around in their seats in the cabins, as com¬ 
posedly, in a manner speaking, as though nothing had happened. 
I saw that, had our vessel sunk, its passengers would have been 
no exception to this rule. In fact, personally, I had become so 
reconciled or resigned to my seemingly impending fate that all 
fear, had, in a manner, left me, and I never intended to move out 
of my bunk, nor did I see a single passenger move in his seat. I 
would have supposed that a man placed in this position would 
have become a raving maniac and died in great agony, trying to 
do something which he could not do. But I saw here that such 
is not the case, for it is man’s nature only to strive for life or 
liberty so long as there is a thread or ray of hope, but when this 
is cut off he becomes composed or reconciled to his lot and dies 
“like a man.” My experience in passing through this trying 
scene was that, when I first thought that the vessel was going 
down, I felt my blood running cold from head to foot, and it 
appears to me that I can feel that sensation yet though over 
thirty years have passed. My first thought was of. mother. 
Father, with the rest of the family and all my acquaintances, 
passed through my mind with lightning rapidity. This being 
over, I became reconciled, and lay listening, as I have stated, to 
hear how the vessel would settle on the bottom. 

An hour or so later the watch called out Graysville. As 
this was something, or a place we never expected to see a few 
hours back, the question was who would be on deck first. In 
the rush I forgot all about being sick. From the deck Grays¬ 
ville presented a very novel appearance. It was a new mining 
camp, and of course everything in the way of habitation was 
canvas. Every tent appeared to have one or two candles burn¬ 
ing, and in the darkness those candles could be seen through the 
canvas walls very plainly. So much light with that of the in¬ 
tense darkness, made a most striking contract. As the night 
was cold and the wind blowing towards the shore, I took my 
place on the leeside of the smokestack to watch further proceed¬ 
ings, as we had some ladies and gentlemen passengers to send 


220 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


ashore here. When the ship got full abreast of the town she 
hove to; but as the wind was blowing in or towards the shore, 
the captain stood well out. Here was another scene that was 
enough to make a half dozen niggers jump overboard. The 
steamer was blowing off a full head of steam; the wind whistling 
through the blocks and rigging of the vessel; a waterfall 
ashore that seemed bent on drowning out the noise of everything 
else; the fiery look of the town, and the captain shooting sky¬ 
rockets in order to bring out a tugboat for the passengers. This, 
combined with the extreme darkness of the night, made a sight 
long to be remembered. What still added to the horrors of the 
night was when the tugboat arrived alongside for the passen¬ 
gers that were going ashore. Owing to the extreme roughness 
of the sea sometimes the tugboat appeared to be almost on a level 
with our vessel and at other times far below her. It appeared to 
a looker-on to be not only extremely dangerous but almost impos¬ 
sible for a passenger to get into it, but they got there all the 
same, but nevertheless it was with the greatest difficulty. A 
rope ladder was thrown over the side of the steamer for the men 
to descend on, but the tug would often sink or pull away from 
her, leaving a chasm between it and the vessel almost frightful 
to behold. The women were fastened with ropes in a chair and 
lowered into the tug often amid screams. I did not blame them 
much for making a noise for the scene of itself was amply suffi¬ 
cient to take the vim out of the most daring. 

In reading the account given in the Bible of the last day, 
I thought this scene almost filled the bill. Of course it lacked 
“Gabriel’s horn,” but as there is nothing said about sky-rockets, 
I concluded that they went a long ways toward making up that 
deficiency. 

As soon as the passengers were taken off our steamer pro¬ 
ceeded on her way to Tasman’s Bay, or what is now known as 
Port Nelson. I returned to my bunk again, for I thought if I 
was going to be drowned, that I might as well be drowned in 
bed as anywhere else. Nothing unusual occurred, however, dur- 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 221 

ing the night and about five o’clock in the morning we were off for 
Tasman’s Bay. But this is not the bay it was in Tasman’s time. 
I have no doubt that if he was alive and could see it now, that 
he would not know it, for the place he sailed over and around, 
comparatively speaking, is high and dry, and to a great extent 
strewn with large water-worn bowlders, with the exception of a 
narrow inlet that lies at the extreme southwest side of what was 
formerly the bay. This inlet extends inland some distance to 
the harbor. The harbor is located one mile from town, and a 
tram-car runs every half hour between the two places, fare six 
cents. On our way up to the town we had a mountain range on 
either side of the bay. These ranges gradually come together, 
forming a junction at the extreme head of the bay, and in this 
fork, as it were, is where the town of Nelson is located. It is 
so arranged that when the tide comes in the water runs up 
through the sewers, but when it recedes it leaves, the place dry 
for nearly a mile. A large tract of land here could be reclaimed, 
and doubtless will be at some future time. Although this is an 
old settlement, the population, in my opinion, does not exceed 
700; but I cannot see, however, why it can ever become much of 
a place, as there is scarcely any land in the immediate vicinity 
fit for cultivation. Along the mountain ranges a large amount 
of hops are grown, which are not excelled inequality, perhaps, by 
any other country on the face of the earth. The hop industry 
and some gold-mining in the neighborhood furnish the principal 
support of the town at present. 

We remained here until evening, taking in as many sights 
in and around town as possible. Among the places visited was 
a Presbyterian church that stood on an elevation immediately at 
the back or south of town. This church, and the town in fact, 
came near being swept away a short time before this by a water¬ 
spout bursting on the range east of the place. The townspeople 
saw the waterspout pass over them, and they all prayed of course 
for it to pass safely over the range and burst on the side next to 
somebody else; but it burst on their side all the same, showing 


222 


SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 


unmistakable evidence that the range was either too high or their 
prayers fell far short of the mark. A man, by praying, may 
do some good for himself or his neighbor, but when he prays to 
stop nature, he “bites off more than he can chew/'* as the saying 
is. What saved the church was a depression in the ground be¬ 
tween it and the foot of the range. The grass and brushwood 
were still lying flat, showing where the water had flowed over 
them. The town didn’t suffer much after all. They appeared 
to have been more scared than hurt, as is frequently the case. 

When evening came we left this nort for Hokatika, arriving 
there the following evening, the distance being 240 miles. Here 
we staid until the following noon, and then cleared for Mel¬ 
bourne. As there is no inlet or harbor here, and the wind blow¬ 
ing almost continually from some part of the west, the captain 
was obliged to lay well out to sea, with a constant head of steam 
up in order to be able to pull out at the first appearance of a 
storm. A storm rises so suddenly here that custom officers and 
people coming aboard vessels to see their friends off, are very 
often carried to Melbourne, or Sydney, a distance of some 1,300 
or 1,400 miles. The captain finding that he has not a moment 
to lose, never pretends to argue the point with any one; it is up 
anchor, and gone! There is no doubt but had the captains and 
crews of the American and German men-of-war received a week’s 
training on this coast, they would not have been caught napping 
on the Island of Samoa. 

The insurance on vessels coming to this place, so I was 
informed, was five times greater than any other port on the 
globe. I saw a small steamer lying high and dry on the beach 
immediately south of the Hokatika river, and supposed they kept 
her there as a monument to the danger; but luck was in our 
favor, and no storm arose during the night. By the way the 
steamer blew off steam, however, and from the talk I heard 
during the night, I concluded that both captain and sailors were 
lying with their “weather-eye” open. 

The next morning after breakfast, the captain and sailors 


five years on the gold FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 223 

wore very busy getting everything in ship-shape, preparatory to 
sailing at noon. We also had some passengers and a consid¬ 
erable amount of gold-dust to come aboard. During the commo¬ 
tion 1 took a bird’s-eye view of Hokatika, its surroundings, and 
the coast range, or Southern Alps, as far as came within the 
scope of my vision. The town of Hokatika, or rather a mining 
camp, appeared to me from the steamer’s deck, to be located on 
low land, on the right bank of the Hokatika river, a short dis¬ 
tance from its mouth. The coast range here is of considerable 
height and seems to lie from live to fifteen miles back from the 
sea. Owing to the height of the range, and the winds bringing 
dampness from the ocean, this place, like Dunedin, is naturally 
in a wet climate, so much so that miners to a great extent work 
in gum suits. This change of climate and clothing naturally 
caused a great deal of sickness, and the result was that a great 
many miners found here their last resting place. Rain, during 
the day is generally blended with sunshine, but during the night 
it appears to “cut loose.” This seems to be the case with a 
large portion of the Island. On account of so much rainfall, the 
land from the sea to the summit of the range is densely wooded, 
the undergrowth and wild vines are also so dense that the trav¬ 
eler has to cut his way through them. 

I now see the tugboat leaving Hokatika loaded with passen¬ 
gers for our vessel. At the mouth of the river, owing to a great 
swell in the sea, a large wave struck her bows and a great portion 
of it passed over the smokestack. For a moment I thought she 
had gone under, but fortunately she soon righted herself. It 
was rather amusing to see some of the lady passengers seasick 
when they reached our ship, the distance sailed over apparently 
not being over a mile. There is one thing about seasickness 
which appears to be peculiar to itself, and that is, it seems to 
repel sympathy, for he or she no sooner gets to vomiting than 
some one is ready to laugh at them, as though it were real fun, 
but there is no fun in it for the one who is suffering from it. 

When noon came we cleared for Melbourne, making that 


> 


224 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER’S LIFE, OR 

port in about five days, the distance being 1,266 miles. There 
was nothing transpired during the voyage that I might say was 
of particular note. On the morning of the fifth day we found 
ourselves off Wilson’s Cape, arriving at Williamstown, the head 
of Port Phillip’s bay, about ten or twelve o’clock at night amidst 
a heavy thunderstorm. We remained here until the following 
morning, when a pilot came aboard and took us up the Yarra to 
Melbourne, distance some seven miles, arriving at Big Burk 
street. We well remember the night, when we would willingly 
have given the world had it been at our command for the privil¬ 
ege of giving three cheers in this renowned street. But things 
now had changed, and so had we, and seeing so many policemen 
standing around apparently out of a job, we wisely concluded 
that it would be better for our health, and probably more money 
in our pockets by indulging in a glass of soda water to settle our 
deranged stomachs. 

I spent some six weks in Melbourne among my old ac¬ 
quaintances, during which time I received a letter from my 
parents, who were still living in Wheeling, W. Va., advising and 
begging me to return home to them. The journey being a long, 
tedious and dangerous one, I became somewhat mixed and unde¬ 
cided in the matter, but after studying over it awhile, I conclud¬ 
ed that it was my duty to return to them. At this time there was 
only one steamship plying between Melbourne, Australia, and 
London, England, and this vessel would not be due in the former 
place for four or five weeks to come. Not desiring to remain 
longer in Melbourne, I took passage in the Lincolnshire, which 
was then in port and getting ready to sail for London. 

Leaving Melbourne on the morning of the 19th of June, 
1868, we arrived in the East India Docks, London, on the even¬ 
ing of September 20th, and it will be easily seen that we had a 
long passage. But we had one consolation, at any rate, (for it 
is seldom that man is left without a little solace) and this was 
that the ship which left Melbourne a month before our vessel 
sailed only arrived in London one day ahead of us. After such 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 225 


a long passage, it is not necessary to say that we were all glad 
when our feet touched terra tirma again, but not any more so, 
I should judge, than were the ship’s owners to see our backs 
turned, for there could be no doubt but that when they took into 
account the cost of the “hard-tack” and “lime-juice” that we 
consumed on the voyage, their profits were very small. But 
such is life. 

Concerning our passage, it was rather varied so far as the 
sailing of our vessel can be considered. Our lowest day was 52 
knots, and the highest day’s sailing was 275 knots; the former 
was performed June 22 in South Latitude 43.8, Longitude 
155.25 East. The latter was performed July 24 in Latitude 
56.25, Longitude 60.38 West. I have often heard of a day being 
gained in sailing around the globe, but I saw it taken in reality 
in Latitude 51.11, Longitude 128.40 West—two Thursdays 
counted as the 13th day of July. 

We had only three deaths on the passage, and these occurred 
on the three Saturdays in succession just prior to reaching Cape 
Horn. These men, in one sense of the word, were dead before 
leaving Melbourne, and by rights should never have ventured out 
to sea. But I suppose the love or desire to die among some loved 
ones in their native country prompted them to make the under¬ 
taking. Thus we were reminded that “man proposes and God 
disposes.” The bodies of these men, as was generally the rule, 
were disposed of in a very simple way. They were sewed up in 
canvas and laid away for the night on the roof of the chicken- 
coop or some other building, with the ship’s national colors laid 
over them. When morning came, and while the passengers were 
eating breakfast, six sailors appeared dressed in their Sunday 
clothes. They placed the corpse on a board prepared for the 
purpose, and at the same time placing one end of the board on 
the side of the ship. The captain read the Church of England 
service over the remains, and when he reached that part where 
the “body is returned to the dust from whence it came,” the 
sailors elevate their end of the board and the poor fellows, in- 


226 SOME MEMORIES OE A MINER'S LIFE/OR 

stead of dust take, water for it. This form of burial looks hard, 
but I suppose it is the best that can be done under the circum¬ 
stances. But even in the midst of fear and death man generally 
has his fun or something to laugh at. He will often do this 
even when death is staring him in the face. 

When a ship rounds Cape Horn in safety it is an old custom 
for the captain to treat all hands *on board. Our captain, in 
compliance with this custom, sent two sailors around with a 
bucket of rum and a dipper for every one to help himself. A 
short time afterwards many of the boys began to feel happy and 
rich. Some would sing, while others laughed at the general fun. 
While this was going on, a man on deck and taking a look at the 
wild and turbulent sea on all sides, and which can only be seen 
in this locality, and with only a board between him and the 
lashing waves, it is almost enough to turn his hair gray; yet, 
perhaps, it never caused the majority of the passengers at this 
time a single thought. 

When nine o’clock came, according to custom, the steward 
came around and put out the lights. This made some of the 
passengers angry, for they hadn’t got all their fun out, and one 
of them jumped to his feet and smashed a large lamp to frag¬ 
ments with his fist. Being somewhat enraged he went upon the 
deck and began to carry on in an ugly manner there. The cap¬ 
tain; ; was a stout, rugged man, and it happened to be his turn on 
watch, so he spread a sail on deck and waited his opportunity. 
Before the belligerent passenger could hardly realize it, the cap¬ 
tain tripped him and threw him down and in a jiffy had him 
rolled up in the canvas. This drunken man, having seen the 
three men thrown overboard a short time before, got it into his 
head that he would be treated in a like manner, and thinking 
to save himself this fate every now and then would yell out: 
"I’m not dead! I’m not dead!” This, of course, made good 
fun for the boys, but the captain kept the fellow in the canvas 
until he sobered up, and I never knew the man to touch any 
intoxicating drink on the passage afterwards. 


FIVE YEARS ON THE GOLD FIELDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 227 

The following night we had a very narrow escape for our 
lives, and the only one we knew of during the passage, although 
we may have had several; but if we had we were blessed with 
ignorance of them. In rounding Cape Horn one of the greatest 
dangers is in the meeting of other vessels in the darkness of the 
night, as they all appear to keep in a central track or course. In 
the middle of the night I was lying awake and heard the watch 
call out, “Ship ahead!” The mate in turn called to him, 
“Where ?” But no answer came. The mate appeared to be very 
anxious to know where the ship was, and called two or three 
times in quick succession to the watch “Where ?” but still no 
response came from the watch. I now got ouf of bed and went 
upon the deck as quickly as possible to see what was the matter. 
Arriving there I was greatly alarmed at seeing a vessel that had 
just crossed our bows and was going down along the side of our 
ship so close that I could have thrown a stone upon her deck. 
What saved us was the ship crossing our bows, for had she kept 
on her course a second longer, from the way the wind was blow¬ 
ing, she w r ould certainly have run into us. The blame or fault 
was undoubtedly with the watch of our ship, as in the dark the 
mate was helpless for he could not see or find out which way to 
turn. The watch was sent aloft and kept there in the cold wind 
until morning, but this was poor consolation to the passengers. 

We crossed the line on August 14th at noon, and our posi¬ 
tion was Latitude 0.26 North, Longitude 25.53 West. We 
passed the Islands of Flores and Corvo September 4, which was 
the only land we saw during the voyage until we sighted Land’s 
End, England, September 18. Arriving in London, as before 
stated, on the evening of the 20th, I engaged passage for New 
York on the steamship City of Paris, which 'was to sail from 
Liverpool on the 24th. This only gave men three days to 
remain in London, but during my short stay 1 visited some of 
the most notable places, such as Zoological Gardens, Trafalgar 
Square, General Postoffice, The Exchange, St. Paul’s Church, 
The Tower of London, and had a walk around the Bank of 


228 SOME MEMORIES OF A MINER'S LIFE, OR 

England and several of the principal streets of the great city. 
I left London at nine o’clock p. m. on the 23rd of September, 
and was in Liverpool early the following morning. I sailed 
from the latter place at noon of the same day, and was in New 
York ten days later, and arrived in Wheeling, W. Va., on the 
10th of October, after an absence of ten years and some three 
months. I am happy to state that I ,found my aged parents 
still alive, which happy fact more than repaid me for the long 
and weary journey and for all I had encountered and passed 
through during my long years of absence in foreign lands. 


THE END. 



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